With just 10 days to go until the implementation of the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Reuters is introducing a new instrument code which will enable its clients to quickly see the best bid and offer price on major stocks, wherever they are quoted.
The consolidated price will enable clients to comply with MiFID best execution requirements via a special type of Reuters instrument code (RIC) known as '.x', says the vendor.
These RICs will bring together data on all trades around a stock as they happen so that best bid/offer data from all relevant exchanges will be available. The service provides banks with a means of consolidating data in one place to enable them to comply with MiFID, says Reuters.
Stephen Wilson, global head of exchange traded instruments at Reuters, adds: "Our customers know that MiFID is the biggest regulatory change to hit European markets in the last twenty years. That is why Reuters is offering them the key tools they need to comply with the new regulations. It is crucial for them to know what the best bid and offer on any major stock is, wherever it is quoted, and the new Reuters .x RIC will allow them to do this."
MiFID comes into force on 1 November but there is still some concern about the readiness of firms in the euro zone to comply with the new regulations.
The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has now released details of a number of measures stating how MiFID will be enforced and how legal problems arising from different levels of national preparedness will be managed.
In a statement the CESR says it is moving to provide business continuity and "minimise the potential disruption to business that might be caused by late transposition of MiFID".
One of the measures is the introduction of a common protocol "for the supervision of branches under MiFID". The protocol outlines how regulators will supervise cross border banks - such as dividing oversight between a domestic regulator which will oversee a bank's head office, and watchdogs elsewhere in the EU which will oversee branches.
"The protocol sets out a framework for co-operation between competent authorities under two different models; joint supervision conducted through common oversight programmes, and requests for assistance based on efficient allocation of supervisory tasks," says the CESR in a statement.
The CESR has also published guidelines on how members will implement the discretions allowed under MiFID. The group says it will also release a brochure for retail investors to raise awareness of MiFID.