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![MiFID U-Turn Sets Up Game of Chicken Over
Research Charges (1)
Summary by Bloomberg Al
• Regulators in the European Union and UK are walking back measures that forced money managers to separate the cost of research from that of trading, but firms are waiting for someone else to make the first move to rebundle.
• Asset managers are keen to rebundle, with 87% of firms in a survey expecting at least half of research bills in Europe to be footed by clients within the next two years, but actual adoption has been slow.
• The stalemate risks undermining the chance of reinvigorating investment research in the region, with industry bodies warning that the structural shifts triggered by MiFID Il may prove near-impossible to undo.
By Justina Lee and Henry Ren
10/08/2025 07:57:53 [BN]
(Bloomberg) -- A quiet standoff is developing among asset managers in Europe that threatens to frustrate an effort to make the region's struggling markets more competitive.
More than seven years after MiFID Il legislation forced money managers to separate the cost of research from that of trading - a move thought to have badly undermined equity coverage - regulators in both the European Union and UK are in the process of walking the measures back.
But firms so far show few signs of embracing this so-called rebundling.
The problem? Rather than start billing their clients for research back in 2018 when the rules came into force, most managers absorbed the cost themselves. While shifting that back to clients would boost their bottom lines, they fear upsetting customers if they announce a reversal. So everyone is now waiting for someone else to make the first move.
"In speaking to what I'll call 10 of the top 20 asset managers in the world, they're keen to do this and they're keen to do it soon," said Jack Pollina, global head of commission management at Virtu Financial.
"Everybody keeps saying, I'm waiting for the first person to make this a public announcement.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kdgcvfaickr7turpo6suzbqp/bafkreidwhkzwg62levbhznpexv4o2scgmlkpfjxp4gwgmjfw7n5cx4kgaq@jpeg)
