13.III.5 Concluding remarks

Compared to the previous regime, MiFID II is clearly more top-down with respect to the publication and consolidation of equity post-trade data. MiFID II covers more EU regulation in the area of publication and consolidation of equity post-trade data. The EU believed that, by introducing harmonised data standards, APAs, and CTPs, the benefits of harmonisation overshadowed the mainly market-driven approach of MiFID I (bottom-up). At the same time, MiFID II intends to hedge the risk of excessive regulation by permitting competition among APAs, respectively CTPs. Accordingly, the EU ascendancy over equity post-trade data publication and consolidation is not total. MiFID II can be characterised as a big push, rather than a complete mandate, towards a reliable and accessible overview of equity post-trade data across the EU. The shift towards a top-down approach from MiFID I to MiFID II is not surprising., A main shortcoming of MiFID I was post-trade data fragmentation.1 Whether MiFID II is successful in overcoming these shortcomings is questionable. Experience with MiFID II makes clear that until this point in time no CTP has emerged. Data quality issues with equity post-trade data as published by APAs have been identified. These MiFID II issues are part of the MiFID II Review (section V below).