Legal spotlight

In our new series bringing legal issues under the spotlight, Simon Gleeson, partner in Allen & Overy's regulatory group in London, outlines the key regulatory changes now shaping the bond markets

The invisible elephant

In the European Union the recent Market Abuse and Markets in Financial Instruments Directives have caused particular consternation in the debt markets. Regulators regulate for the markets they can see, and from the perspective of any national regulator the largest thing in his field of vision is invariably the local stock exchange. Regulatory initiatives therefore focus on regulating that stock exchange and the equity trading that takes place on it. This leads