Investors can look forward to greater choice and protection when a new directive comes into effect in 2007, according to EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
Speaking at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin yesterday, Mr McCreevy outlined the implications of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which must be implemented by January 31st, 2007.
The directive will allow investment firms to operate throughout the EU on a "single passport" basis, which means they will only be answerable to one regulator in relation to most compliance issues.
He said that this would stimulate cross-border competition, and would "diversify the range of products and services that investors can access and markets that firms can tap into".
The directive, which the commissioner praised as "ground-breaking", will lead to the harmonisation of investor protection rules. It will also mean that share trading will no longer be confined to stock exchanges, but will also be possible through a variety of other trading platforms, which Mr McCreevy predicted would lead to "improved standards of service to investors".
He also said that the impending introduction of the single European payments area (Sepa) should stimulate intense competition, and therefore facilitate the removal of some of the regulations controlling bank charges, which he says currently "retard innovation".
