Financial firms across Europe breathed a sigh of relief when regulators said that Mifid II – which will rewrite the EU’s rules on trading from top to bottom – may be delayed by a year to 2018. One exception, however, was KCG.

While most firms are scrambling to understand the complex new rules and rewire their computer systems, the electronic market-maker and broker reckons it will be a winner in Europe's new era of trading transparency, benefiting from moves such as activity driven onto exchanges, services unbundled, and fund managers forced to pay more attention to the quality of execution they get from their brokers.