I love a good panel debate and I'm not just talking from a journalist's perspective. There's nothing better than a controversial discussion to kick off a conference. Even better when there are regulators involved.
Regulators from Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the European Commission discueed the impact of regulation on the structured products market at the conference organised by Arete Events. Post panel questions were probing, and I have to admit, a little on the complicated side. Regulators, however, are used to the complex (they usually inflict it on everyone else), but, by and large, were unable to answer the questions. One regulator even suggested that the questions should be posted on websites so that the regulators had a chance to respond. I'm not sure whether the suggestion was tongue in cheek.
The questions concerned the impact of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). The only question I have is if the regulators can't respond, how on earth can they expect the market to come to grips with the directive?