Member States are required to finalise legislation to give effect to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)1 by 31 January 2007. The FSA (together with HM Treasury) have a programme for consulting on the necessary changes to UK legal and regulatory requirements. To assist in the formulation of proposals for implementation to be consulted on in the Reforming COB Regulation Consultation Paper scheduled for October 2006, this paper sets out our likely proposals for implementing the MiFID client categorisation provisions and opens discussion on the issues arising.
Industry has requested early sight of the key implementation issues relating to client categorisation because of the broad potential for these requirements to affect their business processes and, more widely, business models. This paper responds to that request.