Standards


This EFAMA web page has been created specifically to make known publicly the ever-increasing series of policy and practice statements that go beyond what is required by law or regulation and aim to raise the practical standards within the European investment funds industry.

The best practice recommendations are based on internationally accepted rules. Nonetheless they leave room for the individual background in the various EFAMA member countries, be they large or small. The recommendations should contribute to the harmonisation of the business behaviour of the various European investment managers. They reflect demanding standards that are essential for companies operating in the European fund business, which should be characterised by the highest quality in terms of integrity and transparency. Managing money for third parties and having their trust requires fund managers to have sufficient organisational resources.

In this section:

Simplified Prospectus.

Further to an EFAMA initiative dating back to 1995, the new UCITS Directive contains a provision that calls on fund managers to make more easily accessible the indispensable elements of information that allow investors to make an informed judgement prior to their investment decision. In the interest of ensuring a unifurm appearance of this simplified prospectus -also of great significance for the growth of a Single Market in investment funds- EFAMA has put toward three Models for specific fund types (see below). The uniform presentation of total cost disclosure and historical performance will be of particular interest to investors.
EFAMA recommends the widespread use and regulatory endorsement of these models for the sake of informing better up-front all domestic and cross-border investors in Europe.

Best practice recommendations.

EFAMA recommends the widespread use and regulatory endorsement of these models.

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Fund Processing Standardization Group.

EFAMA established in 2003 the Fund Processing Standardization Group (FPSG) with the aim of developing recommendations for improving efficiency in the cross-border processing of fund units and shares. The FPSG is chaired by Rudolf Siebel, who is Managing Director at BVI. It is made up of expert practitioners representing the European investment funds industry, i.e. fund management companies, custodians, transfer agents, fund processing hubs and existing standard setting organizations.
The FPSG published its first set of recommendations in February 2005. This report was endorsed by the Board of Directors of EFAMA. It is presented below together with a powerpoint presentation that summarizes the main recommendations of the FPSG. In early 2007, EFAMA published the definitive version of the Fund Processing Passport, which had been outlined in the FPSG recommendations of 2005. To highlight the rationale for the FPP, EFAMA published a brochure in June 2007 (see below).

 EFAMA strongly believes that the FPSG recommendations, if embraced by the industry, will serve to converge towards industry-wide standards, thereby removing an important barrier to the development of harmonized processing of investment fund transactions in Europe.

Last modified:  29 August 2007
 
 
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