Having spent the last three months buried under a deluge of MiFID II consultation pages, the real world looked quite different when I came up for air recently. Since ESMA published the consultation back in December, Greece has elected a new prime minister, Star Trek has sadly lost the original Mr Spock, Madonna fell off a stage and a whole new season of House of Cards is available on Netflix.

The reading forecast for the next couple of weeks looks relatively calm, though, with only a few documents to digest. There’s the addendum consultation on MiFID II and the ESMA Cost-Benefit-Analysis questionnaire provided by the FCA. You can now also dip into the published consultation responses. The next big wave of paper is expected to hit around 3rd July when ESMA must submit its regulatory technical standards to the Commission.

It was good to take time out this week and join other members at the FIX conference in London. Regulation featured high on the agenda with speakers examining issues around the unbundling of research payments, best execution, dark pools, market making obligations and cyber-security. All of which made for very interesting discussions, but there were also calls for a re-focus on the bigger picture to ensure we all stay on course when the sea gets rough again.