EXCLUSIVE – A new set of financial regulations in the form of MiFID II has arrived in Europe today, and not everyone is prepared.

MiFID II (or Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2) is a massive set of regulations (7,000 pages) geared towards asset managers and brokers as well as traders of stocks, ETFs and other asset-classes.

In fact, so cumbersome are the new set of regulations that major players including German futures exchange Eurex, ICE Futures Europe, and London Metal Exchange have requested (and been granted) a two-and-a-half-year extension to comply with these regulations.

Plans of MiFID II were first announced back in 2014, with the first draft made public in 2016. These regulations are aimed at leveling the playing field and enabling healthier competition in the financial markets within the EU.

But more importantly, the regulations are aimed at consumer protection with a set of rules ranging from better transparency on trade transactions, to cost of analyst reports.

The regulations will no doubt impact fintechs, most obviously those in the roboadvisory and automated asset management space. But exactly how these fintechs will be affected is unclear.

MiFID II comes just a few days before the arrival of Payments Services Directive 2 (PSD2), another major regulatory change for Europe, which is set to go live on January 13.

To learn more about the latest developments in European fintechs and fintech regulations, join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for FinAi News 2018. Click here to request an invitation.