It is way too soon to be sure about the longer-term impact of Mifid II. But pretty much everyone seems confident about one effect of the new regulatory regime introduced on January 3: a slump in the amount of equity research on smaller companies.

The quantity of analysis brokers publish on small and medium-sized companies has been declining for years. Now many observers are forecasting another further sharp contractions because the Mifid II changes will see most asset managers paying for research out of their own pockets for the first time.