Washington, D.C., July 11, 2023 – SIFMA today issued the following statement from president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. on the passage of H.R. 2622:
“SIFMA applauds the House for its overwhelmingly bipartisan vote to pass H.R. 2622, which directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend the MiFID II no-action relief for six months and study the potential impact of the relief’s expiration on investors. The no-action relief the SEC, allowed to expire on July 3, 2023, addressed a conflict between longstanding U.S. law and the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). This lack of SEC action negatively impacts the competitiveness of the U.S. market for investment research and poses a significant risk that impacted buyside managers and the investors they serve will lose access to important research services. The relief, initially adopted by the SEC in 2017, has been critical to addressing this conflict-of-law problem. Importantly, both the EU and the United Kingdom are poised to substantially revise MiFID II with respect to payment for research and the SEC should extend its relief until such time so that U.S. law is not subordinated.
“SIFMA strongly believes there is no reason to harm U.S. market participants, investors, and companies with a European requirement that both the European Commission and UK are planning to significantly roll back. The bipartisan support for directing the SEC to extend the no-action relief is the correct path forward. We look forward to the Senate taking action in short order and commend Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for their leadership on this issue.”
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SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s one million employees, we advocate on legislation, regulation and business policy affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA).
