The Commission aims to present a legislative proposal to address the tax-induced debt-equity bias, also to support the action plan for the Capital Markets Union and to encourage companies to finance their investment through equity contributions rather than through debt financing.
“Oliver Wyman’s study ‘Caught on Tape’ provides a perplexing take on Consolidated Tape for Europe. Sure enough, it starts with accurate observations: the high number of trading venues in Europe, the resultant fragmented liquidity, unseen liquidity due to the lack of a consolidated tape, and the fact that leading markets like the US and Canada today benefit from a real time consolidated tape.
The current lack of quality pre- and post-trade data and the fragmentation of data sources remain an obstacle to the completion of the Capital Markets Union. The benefits of a real-time Consolidated Tape are wide-ranging: from market surveillance for supervisors, to best execution and an improved view on trading opportunities for retail investors, to portfolio management and pre- and post-trade analysis for fund managers to name a few.
The old-age dependency ratio in the EU continues to increase; Eurostat’s recent figur
Investor education initiatives are essential to improve financial literacy and empower citizens to make sound decisions when managing their savings. If citizens do not have the basic knowledge to understand financial concepts such as risk diversification, compound interest and real rate of return, they won’t know where to start or what to ask should they wish to invest their savings. A lack of sufficient financial literacy in most European countries helps explain why the vast majority of households don’t directly invest any of their savings in the capital markets.
EFAMA provided high-level comments to the Commission’s consultation on the potential review of the Directive on Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services.
We agree with the Commission’s interpretation that the Directive is seen as a “safety net” for financial services not already subject to product-specific legislation. Fund and asset managers are already subject to various, more stringent and detailed sectoral legislations, such as (but not limited to) UCITS, AIFMD and MiFID as well as the (more recent) Cross-Border Fund Distribution Directives.
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has today published its latest monthly Investment Fund Industry Fact Sheet, which provides net sales data on UCITS, and AIFs sold in July 2021, at European level and by country of fund domiciliation.
Bernard Delbecque, Senior Director for Economics and Research at EFAMA, commented: “Robust net inflows into long-term UCITS continued as investor confidence was buoyed by positive macro-economic data and an accelerating vaccine roll-out in Europe.”
The asset management industry recognises the much-needed adoption of mandatory European sustainability reporting standards under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) proposal. Insufficient availability of meaningful, comparable, reliable, and public Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data is a key impediment to realising the full potential of the EU's sustainable finance regulatory framework. Financial market participants' sustainable investments need to be driven by real, verifiable and reported ESG metrics of company's activities and financial risks.
EFAMA welcomes the opportunity to comment on EIOPA’s draft suggestions for the technical implementation of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).
EFAMA welcomes ESMA’s Call for Evidence on asset segregation and custody services as a precious occasion to confirm our previous key messages - as per our response to the previous consultation around Guidelines on asset segregation under the AIFMD of December 2014 – and to clarify our position on new aspects of ESMA’s work.
EFAMA firstly wishes to commend the FSB’s change of focus in the course of 2015, from a proposed assessment methodology intended to identify non-bank, non-insurance globally systemically important financial institutions (NBNI G-SIFIs) to a revised and more objective focus on asset management activities. Although we understand the former framework may be revisited by the FSB once its Recommendations are finalised, we appreciate that certain key characteristics of the asset management industry have been recognised and well reflected in the present consultative document.
As a principle, EFAMA supports every effort made to enhance financial market regulation which reinforces the stability of the financial system, of which EMIR is an important part.
Prior to replying to the consultation, we wish to make the following general remarks.
Firstly, we fully support the points raised by ESMA that recognizes that several types of counterparties active in the OTC derivatives markets are facing numerous issues in relation to the access to central clearing due to:
The European Banking Federation, Insurance Europe, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and the European Structured Investment Products Association reconfirm their full support for the objectives of the PRIIPs initiative. In light of consumer protection, the PRIIP Key Information Document (KID) can be a valuable tool enabling retail investors to compare products and, hence, make informed investment decisions.
Discover the 6 reasons why your organisation should become a member of EFAMA.
Our members enjoy significant benefits including the opportunity to shape the industry positions, get first-hand access to regulatory and political intelligence, engage with industry peers and policymakers, and take part in EFAMA events.
Our three membership categories cater to the wide range of organisations that make up and support the investment management industry in Europe.
EFAMA organised a webinar on investor education in October 2021 introducing our '5 tips to do more with your savings'.
