AIMA

21 August 2009

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has welcomed the impact assessment of the European Commission's draft directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers commissioned by the UK's Financial Services Authority.

The FSA has commissioned CRA International to undertake a CBA (cost benefit analysis) of the proposed directive. Some of the main themes of the brief include: impact on investment portfolios, impact on costs to firms and investors, impact on functioning of markets and the question of systemic risk, and the effect on small company financing and European competitiveness.

AIMA is campaigning for the draft directive in its current form to be revised. Although the association welcomes the parts of the directive which relate to the G20 process such as the reporting of systemically relevant data by managers to their national supervisors and the registration and authorisation of managers, AIMA has argued that there are other elements of the directive (such as the sections relating to leverage, depositaries and marketing) which have been poorly drafted and which will have unintended consequences.

AIMA has sought an impact assessment of the directive by the European Commission, suggesting that it could impose major costs on a large part of Europe's financial services industry, reduce Europe's competitiveness in financial services and as a destination for international investment, and impact Europe's citizens through its effect on pensions, savings, jobs and real estate.

Andrew Baker, CEO of AIMA, said: "We're very glad that the FSA has commissioned this impact assessment for the UK, and we hope that the European Commission will now follow suit at a pan-EU level. It would be extraordinary if there were no proper assessment at a European level of the impact of a directive that could have extremely wide-ranging consequences."
 

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For media enquiries, please contact Christen Thomson, AIMA Director of Communications, on +44 (0)20 7822 8380; email – cthomson@aima.org

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 over 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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