Confusion plagues start of Mifid swaps reporting

Firms reach inconsistent conclusions on scope of transparency requirements

By the end of January 3, the front office staff of Europe’s dealers could breathe a sigh of relief. The first day of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) had passed without major incident. For the back office, however, the problems were just beginning.

The rules, already running to well over 1,000 pages and introducing perhaps more detail than any other financial market regulation in the world, might not be detailed enough.

One of the central concerns revolves aroun