UK financial trade associations, including the Investment Management Association and the London Investment Banking Association, have united ...

UK financial trade associations, including the Investment Management Association and the London Investment Banking Association, have united in response to fears that the Financial Services Authority, the City of London’s regulator, may take too stringent an approach when implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive is an European Union directive that will replace the existing Investment Services Directive. It aims to create an integrated structure for a pan-European market for investment products, by improving the passport rights created under the ISD, and by extending them to new products and services. According to a report in the Financial Times the trade bodies are lobbying to establish a "practical, cost-effective and market-sensitive policy" on the directive's implementation. They feel that certain aspects of MiFID's implementation could be better handled by the industry. Mifid will affect the disclosure of information on stock trades, the management of conflicts of interest and the assessment and classification of client needs. Trade bodies such as the International Capital Market Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and The Bond Market Association, have already criticised the FSA's controversial suggestion that banks use price benchmarks to demonstrate best execution in over-the-counter and fixed income markets. According to the FT report, some firms have stopped work on the implementation of MiFID, which is supposed to go live in November 2007.