SUNGARD/TRADE TECH: Opinions vary on effects of MIFID

Sungard/Trade Tech report finds mixed views on MiFID benefits while CreditSights study reveals M&A fillip of IFRS.

Regulators’ eyes on financial institutions

Regulators need to keep on top of banks, says Dr YV Reddy.

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Breaking down the barriers

Any time now the Payments Services Directive should be adopted. So how it will affect Sepa and financial institutions?By Michael Imeson.

Strength in partnership

As increasing regulation spawns greater competition, banks would do well to reconsider their business models – many may find that partnership is the best route for their business. By Tom Isaac.

Embrace the new efficiency

Moves towards economic harmonisation have been slow in coming but the new regulations mean corporates and banks will now have no option but to change. By Eric Sepkes.

Small savings, wide efficiencies

The real benefits for companies will not be in the small savings in transaction costs but in the wider efficiencies that Sepa will introduce to payments systems and markets. By Michael Imeson.

Benefits of the simple life

Corporate treasuries are looking at how best to rationalise and automate their payment processes in order to achieve greater efficiencies and cut costs in account and payment structures. By Michael Guralnick.

Opportunity knocks

The advent of Sepa presents a unique chance for banks and companies to rethink their business and operating models, and so reap the benefits of a harmonised payments market.By Naveed Sultan.

Change for the better

The Single Euro Payments Area will harmonise and unify financial infrastructure across the EU, compel change and, in doing so, open up new windows of business opportunity. By Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi.

Card wars

The payment card industry is under attack from the European Commission, writes Michael Imeson.

Dire prospects for Prospectus Directive

The EU’s Prospectus Directive is flailing because every state has interpreted it differently. And other directives close to their implementation deadlines, such as the Capital Requirements Directive and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), may suffer the same fate, writes Michael Imeson.

Reg NMS – MiFID’s similarly ugly twin

US exchanges, brokers and dealers are struggling to meet the October deadline for compliance with Reg NMS – a US version of Europe’s MiFID – which will change the way equities are quoted and traded, writes Michael Imeson.

Perfect storm

The structural flexibility of hybrid capital means that it should be an essential instrument in the acquisitions toolbox, and ideal in helping to provide the optimal solution for banks in an environment of cross-border consolidation, writes Nigel Howells.

Measuring up covered bonds

How will covered bonds be treated after Basel II implementation? This will depend on whether banks adjust their holdings to the new risk-weighting regulations, write Mauricio Noe and Christoph Anhamm.