Industry opposes transparency rules in non-share markets

The European Commission (EC) doesn't need to act to improve transparency in financial markets, a poll of industry members found.

The EC-backed poll found that "most market participants consider either that no change is necessary in relation to mandatory transparency levels, or that at the most, some kind of self-regulatory solution should be called for", according to a summary of feedback from the financial services community.

The commission suggested extending the transparency rules in the impending Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) to cover markets other than equity. But market participants argued that such markets were already becoming transparent due to market innovation, and, with no serious market failures visible at present, all the commission could do would be to get in the way.

In any case, decisions on regulation should wait until Mifid has been imposed across the equity markets, the commission was told.

In its conclusion, the commission said it would consider self-regulation as an alternative, with the cash bond markets a priority. With advice from the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) due in June next year, a final report is not expected before the end of 2007.