The FISD’s European Holiday Party last night was – as it always is – a fun affair, and a great way of doing the rounds of the market and reference data set before the Christmas Break. Less jolly was the General Meeting’ flagship regulation panel, which saw panellist after panellist express frustration, confusion and downright bewilderment at the ongoing discussions around MiFID 2.
Star of the show for me was Interactive Data’s Paul Kennedy, whose line by line analysis of the regulation as it now looks – or may look – was the most comprehensive I’ve heard. Paul is clearly on top of where MiFID 2 is headed, and I hope to talk him into a long conversation over lunch soon so we can capture all that data for posterity.
Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank’s Steve McGoldrick, who has been working within the banking community on its response to the EU initiatives, reiterated the industry’s need to put aside its commercial differences for the common good. His remarks were mostly aimed at the development of a consolidated tape, an area that is taking up much of his attention.
The industry’s failure to agree on how to institute this – outlined as a requirement under MiFID 1 but left to the industry to sort out itself – is indicative of the great difficulty involved in bringing about industry change that impacts individual entities’ commercial activities.
Elsewhere, Nomura’s Nigel Matthews – who leads the firm’s European reference data group – invoked regulation in general, and four specific regulations in particular, as the prime suspect in keeping him awake at night. Basel III, and specifically its IMM counterparty data requirement, is causing data management headaches. As will be Dodd-Frank and FATCA as they begin to bite in 2012. Finally, MiFID 2 is expected to have wide-ranging impacts on many facets of the reference data management process.
Happily, despite the regulatory morass that threatens to swamp everyone next year, FISD’s Tom Davin, David Anderson, Nick Merritt and Liz Cummings succeeded in creating a festive atmosphere. We were amazed to watch the lines gather for a full Christmas dinner as we enjoyed the hospitality of Thomson Reuters, which hosted the party.
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