In our latest Monthly Statistical Release, we show the main developments for the European investment fund market in December 2024 and include a first overview and analysis of the full year 2024.
In our latest Monthly Statistical Release, we show the main developments for the European investment fund market in December 2024 and include a first overview and analysis of the full year 2024.
Today, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) published the 20th issue of its Market Insights series, titled “Beyond fund consolidation: a more promising strategy for bigger funds and faster cost declines in Europe”. This publication compares the size and number of equity UCITS with that of US equity mutual funds and challenges the commonly held belief that fund consolidation will significantly lower the cost of funds in Europe.
In its recently published market report on the costs and performance of EU retail investment products, ESMA asserts that there are “substantial differences in the fund cost level between the EU and the US”. In its accompanying press release, ESMA emphasizes that “the market inefficiencies revealed by this higher cost level show the need to focus on the competitiveness of EU markets, within a future Savings and Investments Union.”
Since recent market disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Organization of Securities Supervisors (IOSCO) have investigated how to make investment funds more resilient to liquidity shocks. The FSB published their recommendations in December 2023 and IOSCO is now looking into how to adjust their own 2018 recommendations along these lines.
In its response to IOSCO’s consultation on the revised recommendations for liquidity risk management for collective investment schemes, EFAMA welcomes the fact that IOSCO recognises aspects essential for proper risk management (e.g., asset managers’ primary responsibility and the absence of one-size-fits-all approaches).
Representatives of the EU and UK-based financial services industries met today (11 February 2025) in Brussels to discuss their respective priorities and shared challenges on the eve of the latest EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum meeting and agreed on the following statement.
In its current form, the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) will not achieve its goal of making investing more accessible to European citizens and could deter, rather than encourage, retail participation. In order to stand a chance of delivering on its objectives, the RIS needs urgent simplification. EFAMA have produced a short leaflet with our recommendations on how to simplify and reduce complexity in the current proposal.
Our key suggestions include:
EFAMA is supportive of the general objectives of the PRIIP KID Regulation. We are however concerned about the very limited time that product manufacturers will have between the final technical rules (RTS) and essential guidelines being published and the deadline to produce Key Information Documents (KIDs) from 31 December 2016 onwards. Having provided extensive feedback throughout the ongoing Level-2 work, we seriously doubt there will be enough time for market participants to implement the final rules by the end of this year, as originally foreseen by the co-legislators.
EFAMA welcomes the opportunity to provide the views of the asset management industry to this challenging exercise of assessing the impacts of recent regulatory reforms in the area of financial services.
There are a number of general remarks that we would like to make by way of introduction.
Need for consistency and coordination
After having looked extensively at the Level-2 work done by the ESAs, EFAMA1 comes to the unfortunate conclusion that, due to the very technical nature of the underlying methodologies and calculations, there will not be enough time for market participants to fully implement the PRIIP KID by 31 December 2016.
Our corporate members are both subsidiaries of an EEA parent that is a credit institution as per Article 4(1)(1) of the CRR, or stand-alone investment firms as per Article 4(1)(2) of the CRR. Both types of entities risk becoming subject to the Maximum Ratio Rule as asset management companies licensed under either a UCITS or AIFM management company license, or licensed as investment firms under the MiFID regime to provide discretionary portfolio management services on a client-by-client basis.
EFAMA welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on ESMA’s Consultation Paper on draft guidelines for the assessment of knowledge and competence.
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.