The updated markets in financial instruments directive (MiFID II) has proved to be one hurdle too many for many firms as they have failed to comply with revised best execution regulations.

A report by Caippitech, a Fintech firm, found that 65 percent of respondents did not monitor trades systematically according to best execution criteria.

Furthermore, almost 60 percent of respondents have no plans to use their best execution reports internally, even though the data would improve their execution quality, client offering and ability to make better informed business decisions.

The survey aimed to examine how financial services firms were dealing with MiFID II and how they were adopting it to improve business processes.

“Many firms still don’t define their best execution policies properly, and many of those that do so don’t have a system to monitor their policies in a systematic fashion,” said Ronen Kertis, CEO and founder of Cappitech.

“Furthermore, the operational processes in many cases continue to be unnecessarily laborious and complex. Industry participants need a single point for all compliance needs across reporting, execution quality analysis, service, ARM and Trade Repository integration and reconciliation,” he added.

Other findings included more than half of the respondents were not fully compliant with MiFID II’s reporting mandates on January 3 this year, confirming industry-wide suspicions that large numbers of market participants were struggling in the run-up to the implementation date.

Cappitech surveyed both fund managers and brokers, or representatives from both the sell and buy side on how they have reacted to this broad-based and some say controversial piece of regulation that is MiFID II.