Financial Market Data and MiFID

The opening-up of the market for equity market data raises the question of whether data will be sufficiently consolidated and of high enough quality post-MiFID, or whether it will become too fragmented, thereby hindering price transparency and the implementation of best execution policies. This policy brief by Karel Lannoo outlines the market for financial market data, the provisions of MiFID and the implementing measures regarding financial data and data consolidation. It also looks at the approaches taken by CESR, the FSA and the US authorities. It concludes that markets should be capable of adapting and that additional licensing requirements, such as those proposed by the FSA, are in fact premature and act as a barrier to the single market. Nor would a US-style monopoly consolidator be needed in this case.