The chairman of the Spanish stock exchange, which is facing the threat of competition for the first time next year, has criticised the European Commission Mifid directive that has made the emergence of competition possible, blaming the reforms for “fragmenting liquidity” and having “eroded the quality of information”.

Antonio Zoido, the chairman of the Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, argued yesterday one of Mifid's "main goals" was to allow the emergence of new systems but, while this has created "a great number of opportunities", this has been detrimental to the European market in some areas.