MiFID Helpline Gets 1,000 Queries a Day as Firms Rush to Comply
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European Banks Brace for MiFID II, Seek to Reduce Costs
Derivatives traders have been submitting more than 1,000 help requests a day to a system set up to ensure they comply with the MiFID II rules that are launching tomorrow.
The sheer number of queries has been a “challenge,” said Sassan Danesh, head of U.K. consultancy eTrading Software, which is partnered with the Derivatives Service Bureau that both runs the helpline and deals with other aspects of compliance with the European Union rules overhaul.
One of the requirements of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive is for certain derivatives to start using the ISIN identification numbers common in bonds and stocks. The DSB has doled out more than 850,000 of these numbers since it went live at the start of October -- as well as dealing with the requests for support.
Queries “have increased tremendously in the past three months,” Danesh said by email. “We’re addressing this volume by refining our documentation to address common questions and encouraging self-help by users.”
Danesh’s other comments include:
- DSB -- which is a unit of the Association of National Numbering Agencies, or ANNA -- receives both automated ISIN requests and “ad-hoc support calls asking for clarification of documentation, setting-up of user IDs, reset of passwords etc., coming in through emails”
- “It’s a new system facing unknown traffic pressures, but we’re cautiously optimistic given the performance of the system to date”
- DSB plans an industry consultation to improve its systems; “Many operational and business issues are going to be revisited” when “we have more data and the industry more experience”