A commentary piece published this week, "Sell-side research struggles to show its worth," completely misstates the position of my organization, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, as it relates to MiFID II. The author's assertion that our industry condemns certain payment arrangements for investment research is simply untrue. As evidenced by several recent comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission on this topic, we strongly believe that investors would be best served if investment professionals were able to choose a payment arrangement for investment research that makes sense based on the individual circumstances. Your readers should be made aware of this inaccuracy and provided with the facts.
Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr is president and CEO of SIFMA.
Editor's note: After consulting with the author, the statement relating to SIFMA's position has been removed from the commentary.
