Reporting obligations have become harder and more expensive, according to a survey by the CFA Institutes Centre for Financial Integrity. 68% of respondents think that fragmentation of trading has made trade reporting obligations harder and 64% think it has made the costs of data access higher.
Just under 1,000 CFA members responded to the survey, and although costs had increased since the introduction of MiFID at the end of 2007, average bid-ask spreads have fallen at the aggregate level, a positive development for investors. This trend is particularly pronounced among U.K. equities. The United Kingdom is also the most fragmented market.
Around 50% of respondents failed to see increased transparency under MiFID, a key tenet of the regulation.
Worryingly for the cheerleaders of dark pools, 58% of the respondents considered that dark pools posed issues for market liquidity. 70% of those respondents who had an opinion on dark pools thought dark pools hindered price discovery.
The full report can be found here