19.I Research question and objective

This research is about EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency regulation. The main question of the research is: what EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency regulation is, why it has increased from the ISD to MiFID II, and what have been the consequences. The research question is used to examine EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency regulation against the backdrop of the EU aim to achieve an integrated capital market (big picture) and how and why the EU aim turned into a highly harmonised and detailed EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency regime from the ISD to MiFID II (detail-oriented).

To answer the research question, the research has been divided in four parts. The first two parts of the research concern the EU rules for mandatory publication of equity pre- and post-trade data (Parts I-II). The third part concerns EU regulation for publication and consolidation arrangements (Part III) , whereas the fourth part covers the EU regulation for equity pre- and post-trade data prices (Part IV). Each part started with a chapter on the conceptual framework, as followed by the EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency rules under the ISD, MiFID I, and MiFID II. A synthesis followed after Parts I-IV in order to (a) increase the generality and applicability of the research findings in Parts I-IV and (b) to develop new knowledge through the process of integration.

The following sections include the conclusions. The conclusions include my definition of EU equity pre- and post-trade regulation (section II), the main factors that, in my view, influenced the increase in EU equity pre- and post-trade transparency regulation from the ISD to MiFID II (section III), and the consequences of the increase (section IV). The last section includes the lessons learned from the ISD to MiFID II (section V). The conclusions cover the main points, rather than the details, of the research.