Platforms win small on Mifid day one

Some dealers stopped quoting bilaterally on smaller bond trades

Hanging on: "You tell the clients ‘I'm sorry, but you have to go to the trading venue directly'," says a European bank's rates sales head

One of the first concrete effects of Europe’s new trading and transparency rules has been to limit the choices available to buy-side firms when executing smaller trades.

On day one of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, some banks refused to offer bond prices bilaterally as a way of avoiding the accompanying disclosure burden, directing clients to trading platforms instead.  

Risk.net spoke to three sources at banks classed as systematic internalisers (SIs) by Mifid II –