Brow-mopping after Mifid II start

European companies have recast their risk-management and hedging systems in line with last-minute Mifid II preparations

Energy firms and regulators in the European Union have been dealing with the impacts of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) since it started to take shape more than two years ago. The directive, which came into force on 3 January, had financial traders across the EU—and beyond—panicking about not only the changes to the shape of markets, but also the reporting requirements that the regulations demanded. For energy companies specifically, the position-limits regime, which dictates commodity instrument exposures, had many concerned that their ability to risk-manage using financial tools would have gross impacts on the shape of markets. Some even went as far as to s