Committee report on AIFM Directive

 ”The House of Lords European Union Committee have today published a report on the European Commission’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) in which they call on the Commission to ensure that their proposals complement global arrangements.

The Committee state that unless the directive is compatible with a global regulatory approach it will “seriously damage the EU and UK Economies”. They stress that the UK Government should not agree with the Directive unless it is compatible with equivalent legislation in third countries and in particular the United States. They argue that this is essential to ensure that EU AIFM’s do not lose competitiveness at a global level. This is a particular concern for the UK and the City of London which has a large Alternative Investment Fund industry that employed an estimated 40,000 people in 2009.

(…) The Committee also criticise the “one size fits all” approach of the Directive. The reported noted the Directive covers a wide variety of fund managers including hedge funds, private equity and infrastructure funds.  The Directive’s detailed requirements must differentiate between types of managers to avoid unwanted outcomes that could restrict the operation of fund managers unnecessarily”. www.parliament.uk

Read the full article

Download the report

Image: iStockphoto