Europe’s MiFID II Rules Harming Small Companies and American Investors

The SEC should continue to promote the importance of research coverage to ensure America’s capital markets remain the best in the world.

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) highlighting how the European Union’s Market in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) rules on research coverage are disproportionately harming small companies and limiting opportunities for American investors.

“MiFID II’s unintended consequences have led to a decline in research coverage, harmed liquidity, and limited opportunities for American investors to share in the growth and success of small public companies,” said ASA CEO Chris Iacovella. “Instead of importing European policies that give businesses yet another reason to think twice before going public, the SEC should continue to promote the importance of research coverage to ensure America’s capital markets remain the best in the world.”

“While the ASA does not support a U.S. mandate for the full unbundling of research and trading costs as envisioned under MiFID II, we believe the SEC should codify, by rulemaking, the ability of broker-dealers to receive hard dollar payments for research from all institutional investors,” Iacovella wrote in the letter to the SEC. “Absent this certainty, it is likely that the United States will continue to see a drastic decline in research coverage of public companies – an outcome that is not good for investors or the economy as a whole.”

To read the full letter to the SEC, click here.

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