Mifid II ensures all change for energy firms

There's plenty for companies to mull over in the latest European directive aimed at cleaning up the financial sector

The oil and gas industry is braced for fallout from the biggest root-and-branch reform of European financial markets in a generation—the Markets and Financial Instruments Directive, known as Mifid II, which comes into force in January. Hydrocarbons firms aren't the focus for Mifid II, but they'll feel the effects from legislation that embraces every part of Europe's financial industry. Seven years in the making, and running to 70,000 pages, this legislation is Europe's belated attempt to clean up the financial sector and prevent a repeat of the 2008 markets crash. This legislation aims to increase transparency and impose firebreaks to prevent bank collapses. The impetus to create it comes in