Mifid to be postponed again

LONDON – The implementation deadline for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) was postponed yet again, but industry bodies warn that firms should not delay their Mifid plans as a result. The most recent deadline, of November 2007, has been put back to April 2008 to allow time for the translation of the various parts of the directive into the languages of all European Union countries. The postponement also reflects the fact that regualtors have been late publishing the Level 2 text, which contains some of the finer implementation details.

Operational risk managers should be getting ready to prepare CRMifid, said Richard Metcalfe, senior policy director and co-head of Europe at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. Metcalfe was speaking at the OpRisk Euorpe conference in early April on how the Capital requirements directive and the Mifid overlap. "It may seem a bit melodramatic" to call it CRMifid, said Metcalfe, "but you get the point."

Essentially, Metcalfe said op risk managers will play a significant part in