Investment managers are not ready for a trading overhaul and some are unaware that the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive will affect them, according to the head of the industry's Mifid joint working group.

The EU devised Mifid to create a single market for wholesale and retail transactions in financial instruments. It is the cornerstone of the Financial Services Action Plan, which the EU produced in 1999, and is due to be enforced from April 2007.