17.04.2012
By Simon Miller
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has found substantial policy differences between the European Commission's draft rules on alternative investment and the advice provided by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
According to its analysis, AIMA found that the Commission text on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) diverged substantially on third country provisions, depositaries, delegation, leverage, own funds, professional indemnity insurance, appointment of prime brokers and calculation of assets under management.
AIMA CEO Andrew Baker said that the analysis was an attempt to shed more light on the process and highlight the changes that "will have a major impact on the EU and the global asset management industry:.
He continued: "We urge the Commission to follow ESMA’s advice, which was published after a very thorough and highly technical process involving representatives of the EU’s national regulatory authorities and which we assume is fully in line with the Directive."
The Commission aims to implement AIFMD through a 'regulation' that is faster to implement but does not allow the flexibility of implementation at a national level. Despite being directly applicable, the Commission gave EU member states only two weeks to respond to its new text.
Baker added: “We also fully respect the Commission's right to diverge from ESMA advice but we believe that, to avoid any unintended consequences, changes should be properly assessed and consulted with the public before any final decisions are made."
AIMA's paper can be downloaded here.
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