MOST OF THOSE who have heard of Mifid, the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, fall into one of three groups, two of which harbour conspiracy theorists. The latter camps are located on either side of the English Channel. The group on the French shore believes Mifid is a British conspiracy to destroy Europe. The other, massed behind the white cliffs of Dover, fears it is a continental European conspiracy to destroy the City of London.
The third, and by far the largest, group is of the ostrich persuasion – with their heads are buried in the sand. People in this group either can't believe anything like Mifid could actually happen or think it is just another banana Directive – an obscure and remote piece of irrelevant regulation.
Like the banana Directive, EEC 2257/94, which regulates the quality, size and curvature of bananas marketed in the EU, Mifid...
