MiFID – Will Cyprus be ready by November?

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is probably the most significant piece of EU securities legislation to date. It is already changing market dynamics which will impact all investment sectors and could offer new opportunities.  Market participants need to consider fundamental strategic options in order to establish an effective operating model in the post-MiFID world.

As Cyprus is a member of the European Union, Cypriot investment comapnies and banking institutions will also be affected by MiFID.  The regulators are already taking steps towards adopting MiFID with a target date of November 1.

Achieving compliance with MiFID is a significant challenge given its detailed and sometimes complex requirements and provisions.

MiFID requires that all investment firms rethink how they interact with their clients, how they operate in the financial markets, their choice of products and investment services, their organisation structure and business model, and how they report to clients, to markets and to regulators.

In this respect, PricewaterhouseCoopers organised a seminar at the Cyprus Hilton last Thursday to present an insight on what MiFID means to Cypriot firms and banking institutions.

The speakers were PwC’s experts on MiFID, Wendy Reed and Arno De Groote from PwC Brussels together with Constantinos Constantinou, Partner, George Lambrou, Senior Manager and Demetra Ellina, Manager, Advisory Services of PwC Cyprus.  The guest speaker was Eftychia Georgiou from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

The seminar attracted more than 120 participants who were informed about the key MiFID provisions, key impacts, areas of complexity, current debates and focus areas going forward.