Study Finds Two-thirds of EU Institutions Will Not Meet MiFID Deadline
A new study published today by HandySoft Global has revealed that almost two-thirds (60%) of European financial institutions are not expected to meet the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) by the deadline of November 2007. The research confirms that UK-based financial institutions are in a relatively more advanced state of preparation than the EU average, but nearly a third (27%) are still unlikely to comply in time. Based on telephone interviews with 100 European financial institutions and a further sample of specialist corporate lawyers, the study also found that only a third of European firms (33%) and just over half of UK firms (52%) have appointed a dedicated MiFID compliance officer, implying that little progress has been made since April 2006 when KPMG put the European average at just 29%. However, on a positive note, the research highlighted that around one in ten (9%) European financial organisations see “a great deal of overlap” between their MiFID implementations and other compliance tasks that they currently face. A further 23% are discovering “a fair amount of overlap” in transferable benefits, whereas the majority (68%) believe that the necessary work and IT implementations offer only “a little” overlap of re-usable benefits and technology with other compliance requirements.