Our Work

The regulatory environment for the provision and payment of equity research continues to evolve rapidly in Continental Europe and the ramifications of MiFID II will also indirectly effect the US market. There are four sub-sections in the section for the UK, US, France and the EU, with background and papers on the respective regulatory changes.

The highest profile regulatory change impacting independent research firms and their investment management clients is the “unbundling” of commissions for execution and research. The MiFID II Delegated Acts are now published and each member state is choosing how to interpret them before they take effect in January 2017. Euro IRP has been actively engaged with regulators across Europe as part of this process and recent work includes submissions to the FCA in the UK and the AMF in France. Euro IRP is closely monitoring the impact MiFID II is having on the research market and the market dynamics that are evolving.

Other notable work has been Euro IRPs consultations with the FCA on Corporate Access issues in the UK which led directly to a ban on research commissions being used to pay for such a service from the investment banks. Euro IRP is also consulting with the FCA regarding the IPO process and is determined to surface concerns about potential conflicts of interest in the research procurement process as a direct result of IPO activity. The association is also working on raising awareness amongst its members the Markets Abuse Regulation.