There is now just over a year until the new Mifid II regulations covering research procurement come into effect in January 2018. The market still has a mountain to climb if that deadline is to be met.

Capital markets activity in Europe is dominated by the UK, so the Brexit vote could have dealt a mortal blow to the European Commission’s plans to promote it through the capital markets union initiative. To survive, CMU will have to get global.

Communications compliance is moving up the agenda for financial services firms, as the City's watchdog cracks the supervisory whip and the implementation deadline for MiFID II fast approaches

The internet has created a new kind of company that needs to be international and multi-currency from the outset. They are businesses that usually understand technology better than their banking partners. So how are the world’s leading cash managers meeting the challenges posed by these new clients?

Regulators around the world have repeatedly tried to tackle the problem of excessive leverage being freely available to retail, particularly in FX, but Belgium's outright ban on leveraged products is the most radical solution yet.

Banks are stepping up their offerings as the divide grows between corporates with plenty of liquidity and those struggling.

Barclays has outlined its timeframe for the implementation of ring-fencing, but banks have so far given little public detail on what the structural reform of the UK’s banking industry will entail. This is leaving corporate treasurers unable to make their own plans.

The European Securities and Markets Authority’s Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), which came into effect in July, may have effectively brought aspects of spot FX into its scope, argue some advisers. But greater clarity is what market participants need.

The UK's decision to leave the EU has left corporates scrambling to review many aspects of their business to ensure they are able to withstand heightened volatility. Injecting a greater level of optionality into their hedging strategies is one way to protect themselves from increased uncertainty, says Citi.

MasterCard is to become the majority shareholder of VocaLink, but will ownership by one global company truly promote greater competition?

The implementation of Mifid II has been postponed to allow additional time for improving data quality. Meeting this standard, though, is requiring a substantial amount of work.

From retail and investment to emerging market banking, regulatory technology is redrawing the global financial map. Data is the new capital, ideas are the new risk.

UK-based financial institutions should expect the bulk of European Union regulations to remain in place up to and even after the UK’s exit from the bloc, despite uncertainties over the terms of the eventual exit, lawyers say.

Market participants have expressed confidence that organized trading facilities (OTFs) – the new venue introduced under Mifid II – will deliver increased transparency compared with multilateral trading facilities (MTFs).

Market participants have expressed confidence that current best-execution rules are sufficient to enable compliance with the updated BIS FX conduct code.

Overall investment in FX technology has declined in line with the wider financial services sector over the last 12 to 18 months as banks focus on specific markets and business objectives. But there’s no shortage of innovation in banks’ proprietary or off-the-shelf platforms.

View the full results of the Fixed Income Research Survey 2016 here.

The unbundling of research costs in fixed income could see the market shrink to a shadow of its former self.

With the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (Mifid II) on the horizon, the regulation is likely to impact FX market structure – indirectly.

European banking authorities have diluted ‘currency mismatch’ haircut rules in forthcoming non-cleared derivatives legislation – but the bigger issue remains that traders still don’t know if they will have to post collateral on their uncleared FX derivative trades.

EC demands rethink on Mifid II transparency; end investors criticise focus on liquidity.

The global FX code of conduct being developed by the FXWG under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements has moved a step closer to becoming a reality, with a first draft being released to market participants for feedback.

A lack of clarity around the definitions of principal and agency trading, and the evolution of the grey area of the hybrid could give rise to further foreign-exchange scandals if the issue is unresolved. Markets and regulators are pro-actively putting these FX trading practices under the microscope.

For many of the largest private banks 2015 was a year of restructuring and geographical retrenchment. Only a few global players remain. This year looks set to be just as turbulent, but will clients put up with yet more change?

Low interest rates in emerging Europe are driving less committed players out of the private banking market but giving a boost to regional lenders by enhancing the appeal of investment products.

Progress has been made towards lowering post-trade costs in FX markets, but it is clear no single initiative has the ability to effect notable change.

It won’t have escaped your notice but there are further regulatory changes coming down the track. Hard on the heels of European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the second iteration of Europe’s Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation are under way.

The sheer volume of legal documents pertaining to new regulation that banks must read and take action on across their businesses is a daunting and ever-growing mass that, if printed and piled up, ‘would stretch for a kilometre into the sky’.

Unbundling here to stay; research goes on exchange.

As the regulatory landscape for FX continues to evolve – including shifts in best-execution practice and new supervisory frameworks for a slew of products – investment managers have been left uncertain about the implications for some of their trades.