A survey published today shows that investment firms are significantly unprepared for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) which is currently due for implementation on 30 April 2007.

The MiFID Readiness Survey, published by the MiFID Joint Working Group (JWG), measures the readiness of London investment firms to meet the demands of MiFID with a particular focus on the best execution and transparency requirements of the Directive.

A key finding in the survey demonstrates that over three-quarters of respondents said that their organisation either does not have a MiFID compliance framework in place or if it did, they did not know about it. Also, more than 60% of respondents did not know how they were going to tackle the pre- and post-trade data publishing obligations listed under MiFID articles 27 and 28.

MiFID has been the subject of considerable debate and has been fiercely criticised by FSA Chairman, Callum McCarthy, who recently described the Directive as exerting a "pervasive effect" over financial markets and financial institutions. McCarthy was highly critical of the timetable for MiFID, the lack of any cost-benefit analysis by the EU and doubts over the benefits the Directive will deliver for UK firms.

With only 20% of respondents confirming their firm has a compliance framework in place to meet the April 2007 deadline, the results of the survey clearly highlight the increasing pressure the MiFID timetable is imposing on the sector. The results are likely to increase pressure back on the EU to provide a further extension to the deadline.

Last week Callum McCarthy said that the FSA would do all it could to relieve some of the pressure and make the timetable "more manageable". His comments preceded a report on Reuters indicating that Britain has called for a 6 month extension until 1 November 2007.

Bob Fuller, co-chair of the MiFID IT JWG said, "The survey confirms what we have all been aware of for some time: getting ready for MiFID is far from job done – and the more one looks into the detail, the more questions are raised as to what being ready really involves".

More information about the MiFID Joint Working Group and details on the survey can be found on the ITISC website.