Regulation Should Leave Market Microstructure Alone, Says Philippe Guillot, Financial Markets Chief

(February 14, 2013, New York)According to Waters Technology’s Steve Dew-Jones,

Regulators are giving Mifid I—which increased competition—a vote of confidence, but are also highlighting the increased complexity and unintended consequences that followed the legislation. In this regard, Philippe Guillot, executive director of the markets directorate at the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and speaker at upcoming, Golden Networking’s High Frequency Trading Leaders Forum 2013London, “Strategic and Tactical Insights for Investors, Speed Traders, Brokers and Exchanges”, March 21, says that “market microstructure is incredibly fragile and we do not know exactly what will happen when we change it.”

Mr. Guillot added: “If you take the minimum resting time proposition, this is something that is very harsh and there is no way back after you have done it because if you put it at 500 milliseconds, afterward it will be very difficult to say, ‘Oh, maybe we should have put it at 480 or 520.’ Look at what happened in Mifid I. If you decide to create competition, it’s very difficult to come back, and you have lots of unintended consequences.”

Mr. Guillot was appointed on March 19, 2012. The AMF Markets Division monitors financial markets, infrastructures and market stakeholders. Mr. Guillot began his career in finance in 1987 at DKL James Capel (now HSBC), where he held various positions focused on financial markets.  In 1991 he joined Enskilda Securities as a market maker, first in Paris then in London.  In 1998 he moved to CréditAgricoleCheuvreux in Paris, taking over as head of Facilitation, before being appointed Group Trading Director in 2006, in Paris then London.

Throughout all these years, Mr. Guillot has played an active role in numerous working groups and market authorities dealing with MiFID issues.  He was a member of the Securities Trading Committee of the AFME (Association for Financial Markets in Europe), and represented Cheuvreux with the Regulated Markets and MTF (Multilateral Trading Facilities). Mr. Guillot holds a degree in private law from Paris XI University.

The AMF was established by the Financial Security Act of August 1st 2003, and was formed from the merger of the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB), the Conseil des Marchés Financiers (CMF) and the Conseil de Discipline de la GestionFinancière (CDGF). The objective in amalgamating these bodies was to improve the efficiency of France’s financial regulatory system and to give it greater visibility. The AMF also lends its support to financial market regulation at the European and International levels.