Leader: Start preparing for MiFID now

It's becoming increasingly clear that MiFID, the impending regulation for the finance industry, could turn out to be very painful indeed. The worst case scenario could see banks scrambling to get their systems ready for testing by March 2007 - that's just 13 months away.

A year to complete what could be a £10m project? That would be a challenge for any company.

Making a whole sector hit a target like that increases the chances of there being some big problems along they way.

Even worse, it could be the summer before there are any details of what financial services companies will need to do to comply with the legislation.

As they race to be ready, companies will either be launching raiding parties against their rivals to grab the IT stars they need - or fighting to prevent the competition poaching their own people.

One thing's for sure: it won't be like Y2K. You won't be tracking down people with ancient knowledge of arcane systems and bringing them in as consultants.

This job will be about upgrading some of your newest systems for MiFID compliance, which means some of your brightest and best could soon start getting tempting offers from the opposition.

Nobody knows all the details yet - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't start work. Make sure the business knows that MiFID is coming so they can try and work out the impact. With this one if you wait until you have all the answers it could be too late.

More MiFID In Focus:

• News story: Don't let MiFID delays stop IT work
• Cheat sheet: MiFID