When the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive became law in November 2007, it was hailed as a liberalising measure that would shake up European equities trading, force down costs for brokers and institutional investors and, ultimately, individual investors too.

According to the European Commission, at the time of Mifid's launch the directive "contains measures which aim to change and improve the organisation and functioning of investment firms, facilitate cross-border trading and thereby encourage the integration of EU capital markets".