Prompted by changes in the way financial markets operate, the European Commission has introduced the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), as part of its Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) in order to create a level playing field in the European Economic Area (EEA) from 1 November 2007.
The MiFID II reform means that organised trading of financial instruments must shift to multilateral and regulated trading platforms or be subject to transparency requirements where traded over-the-counter (OTC). Strict transparency rules will ensure that dark trading of shares and other equity instruments which undermine efficient and fair price formation will no longer be allowed. The implementation date was 3 January 2018.
