French watchdog says EU market rules need overhaul after Brexit

French watchdog says EU market rules need overhaul after Brexit
FILE PHOTO: Britain, European and French flags are seen before a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer Copyright Philippe Wojazer(Reuters)
By Reuters
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's departure from the European Union next March will force a full review of the bloc's sweeping new rules for markets, including tougher market-access conditions for foreign trading platforms, a top French regulator said on Monday.

Robert Ophele, chairman of France's AMF markets watchdog, said Brexit will "obviously force us to undertake a complete review of the key metrics and parameters that we use in our daily MiFID II implementation".

The rules, which run to hundreds of pages, were only introduced in January, a year late, because of the complexity and the cost for trading firms, banks and even regulators to implement them.

France is actively courting banks based in Britain that are opening EU hubs to avoid Brexit disruption, hoping they will base their trading operations in Paris.

Ophele said a "number of legislative fixes" were needed to ensure that market participants are not circumventing the rules and to improve the quality of transaction data.

"MiFID II may be a complex piece of law, but that does not mean we should shy away from re-opening it and fixing deficiencies where evidence may show that we have gone too far or have generated unintended consequences," Ophele told an industry event in London.

MiFID II has introduced caps on trading shares in the "dark" or away from transparent platforms like stock exchanges, but Brexit will mean that much of that trading will no longer be in the bloc.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Larry King)

Share this articleComments

You might also like