AIMA

27 July 2009

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has warned that the European Commission’s draft directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers would hit fund managers and investors around the world if enacted into European law.

AIMA argues that the directive creates potentially major difficulties for non-EU funds and/or non-EU managers in accessing the EU market. Marketing of funds by managers will only be allowed with a special marketing passport that the directive creates. However the directive also delays its introduction by three years and imposes significant obstacles (such as demonstrating regulatory and tax equivalence) to obtaining it.

AIMA suggests that the directive makes it so difficult and costly for non-EU funds and managers to access the EU market that it is clearly protectionist in effect, if not in intent. This will have major consequences for non-EU funds and managers (particularly in North America and Asia-Pacific) who will face a major loss of business in the EU. Investors will face loss of choice, increased costs and diminished returns.

Andrew Baker, CEO of AIMA, said, “Funds and managers outside the EU face being locked out of the EU market with extremely worrying consequences. Global industry centres such as the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia and South Africa, will all be affected by this. This is not just an internal EU matter.

This will also have a very significant impact on investors. EU investors, in particular, face a situation where they can use only EU asset managers of EU domiciled funds investing assets under an EU custodian. And international investors with EU funds or managers will find that their costs will go up and their returns will go down because of the restrictions and compliance costs the directive imposes.

We believe that the provisions of the draft directive with protectionist consequences will not only hit the industry worldwide but weaken the competitiveness of the EU in investment management and make the EU a less attractive destination for international investment.  Naturally, we hope that it can be revised to avoid this.”

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For media enquiries, please contact Christen Thomson, AIMA Director of Communications, on +44 (0)2078228380; email – cthomson@aima.org

Note for editors

To receive AIMA’s Guidance Note on this – “The impact of the EC’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers on Third Country Fund Managers” - please contact AIMA’s Director of Communications, Christen Thomson.

About AIMA

As the only truly representative global hedge fund association, AIMA, the Alternative Investment Management Association, has more than 1,100 corporate members worldwide, based in 40 countries.

Members include leading hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms and fund administrators.  They all benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide.

AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.

 

 

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