European Commission set to ban trade practice propelling meme stocks

The European Commission is planning to ban payment for order flow, paralleling potential US moves to stem a practice that hit the headlines during the meme-stock mania.
 
A forthcoming review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive will include a ban amid other measures to increase transparency, such as a consolidated tape of information about transactions, people familiar with the matter said.
 
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is separately weighing a ban on payment for order flow, in which trading firms pay retail brokerages to execute their trades. Regulators are concerned that video-game like prompts have encouraged