AMAFI attended Eurofi's Financial Forum in Prague between 7 and 9 September, represented by Chairman Stéphane Giordano, Director of European and International Affairs Arnaud Eard, along with several members of the European Action Committee. On the sidelines of the public sessions, AMAFI met with a number of key institutional representatives, including  Brita Hammar, Deputy Director-General, Financial Institutions and markets, Ministry of finance of Sweden;  Roman Turok, Director General, Financial markets, Ministry of finance of Slovakia; the financial services  Attachés for Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden; and Heather Bailey, parliamentary assistant to French MEP Gilles Boyer.

The talks covered the MiFIR review (AMAFI / 22-58), a priority issue for AMAFI members that is currently before the European Parliament and Council. During these conversations, AMAFI stressed the need to introduce two consolidated tapes: a pre- and post-trade tape for equities and a post-trade tape for bonds.

It also reiterated the importance of factoring in the UK’s planned amendments to equity and bond transparency regimes, with a view to keeping the EU’s firms competitive and its markets attractive. Besides preventing the risk of a potential transfer of liquidity from the EU to the UK, Europe needs to maintain the capacity to finance itself independently. With this in mind, AMAFI suggested that ESMA be given a mandate to monitor liquidity patterns and to respond in the event of a shift towards the UK.