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“ Serious implementation is more likely by 2027, given the operational and regulatory steps required.”
ROBERT BULLER, GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT AT KEPLER CHEUVREUX
firms combine research costs and trading activities as one, however with the advent of the directive, fees were‘ unbundled’. As Mifid II was introduced at the start of 2018, these fees were separated due to various industry concerns surrounding spending on duplicative or low-quality research.
At the time, a significant concern for asset managers was the possibility that access to, and quality of, research would be diminished. Most firms looked to get this research from their internal sources, or research payment accounts( RPA).
The motivation behind the change was to up the quality of research, as well as eliminate the influence of research on trading desk decisions.
As Quick explained in his recent opinion piece for The TRADE:“ The word‘ rebundling’ tends to trigger dealers, who immediately recall the bad old days of directed trades and fund managers leaning over their shoulders guiding them on which counterparty to use for the trade- regardless of whether it ensured the best outcome or not.”
However, all in all, the good intentions behind regulators’ decisions at the time cannot be denied- the pursuit of more efficient capital markets is necessary after all. But, demonstrably, there was work to be done when it came to the introduced set-up.
As Quick explains:“ The intention of unbundling was good, it was ideally to have an explicit payment for the consumption of research and allow dealers to
28 // TheTRADE // Q2 2025