“Curiouser and Curiouser”

“Curiouser and Curiouser” said Alice. I was pleased to see John Barber picked up, topically, on the analogies between Alice in Wonderland and the process of debate on the AIFM Directive at the Geneva Investors’ Forum last week.

As investors, we wrote letters last Friday to Commissioner Barnier, M. Gauzès and the  Spanish Finance Minister Salgado. These letters expressed our concern, on behalf of our institutional clients, about the likely negative consequences of the proposed directive on the very people it is supposed to set out to protect.

Imagine our surprise when the letter to the Spanish Minister was declined at the door. How can the Spanish as the incumbent President refuse to receive a letter from investors?

We were pleased to hear the the directive has been taken off this week’s agenda but understand nothing has changed procedurally though timings may shift. This whole process is Nonsense on Stilts from a professional investor’s stance. As well as the proposed “third party rules”  hampering investment choice there are numerous other provisions imposing additional costs on investors without any clear benefit.

It is time investors knew whether there voice is being listened to at all!