European Union rules that are set to revolutionise share trading in the 25-nation bloc will be too onerous for some markets and prompt brokers to ditch parts of their business to avoid red tape, a study showed on May 22.
The markets in financial instruments directive, or MiFiD, comes into force in November 2007, a year and a half late because of its complexity.
EU countries are due to sign off at the end of this month on measures the executive European Commission will use to implement the new rules.
Banks and stock exchanges will have to change their business models in some cases as the former will be allowed to trade shares in-house in direct competition with the latter for the first time in many countries.
"We maintain that this directive is probably too onerous for many markets to absorb, and will probably lead to excessive centralisation and concentration in EU securities markets at this time," the study by the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels think tank, said.
"The MiFiD renders operating conditions so much more demanding that many firms, especially smaller brokers, might simply prefer to stay out of certain business lines. It may also open the way to much more litigation than we have seen so far."
A single array of conduct-of-business rules to replace 25 different sets will be a benefit, and investment firms will be forced to police their trading operations more rigorously, the study said.
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