Judith Hardt, secretary general of the Federation of European
Stock Exchanges, says that the jockeying for position among
European exchanges and their increasingly feisty member firms is
"like playing chess with all the pieces moving at the same
time."
The game is being redefined by the Markets in Financial
Instruments Directive (MiFID), which requires that firms offer
their clients best execution-a concept that incorporates not only
price, but also speed, certainty and costs of clearing and
settlement. The directive eliminates the concentration rule that
forces trades in a number of European countries to be conducted on
national exchanges and gives rise to a new category of players
called systematic internalizers, which can match trades on their
own books. |
