EFAMA responded to a public consultation of the Platform on Sustainable Finance on taxonomy extension options linked to environmental objectives.
EFAMA responded to a public consultation of the Platform on Sustainable Finance on taxonomy extension options linked to environmental objectives.
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 June 2021, at European level and by country of fund domiciliation.
The Commission is trying to understand how the EU legal framework could be improved to tackle the use of legal entities with no or minimum substance and no real economic activities, by taxpayers operating cross-border to reduce their tax liability.
While cognisant of the FSB’s strict timelines in view of upcoming G20 summits, these should not come at the expense of a necessary and more informed debate on the causes at the root of last year’s stresses in global short-term funding markets (STFMs) and on ways to remedy these in the future. In fact, the options presented in the consultation report appear hurried and dismissive of critical facts, calling therefore for a deeper engagement with the global financial and investing community at large.
EFAMA welcomes IOSCO's enhanced attention to transparency efforts supporting informed and qualified investment decisions in sustainability-related products. We support the adoption of such recommendations at the international level and believe IOSCO should leverage the experience with SFDR and Taxonomy in Europe to help establish consistent international standards, definitions and best practices.
In this response, we would like to highlight three pressing challenges deserving greater attention in the report from asset managers' perspective.
EFAMA wholeheartedly supports a retail investment strategy that gives EU citizens the necessary tools and the confidence to put their savings to work by investing in capital markets.
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has today published its latest monthly Investment Fund Industry Fact Sheet, which provides data on UCITS, and AIFs sold in May 2021, at European level and by country of fund domiciliation.
Thomas Tilley, Senior Economist, commented: “Net assets of UCITS and AIFs breached the EUR 20 trillion threshold for the first time ever in May, thanks to solid net sales and the strong performance of global stock markets in recent months”
Equity UCITS delivered a total net return of 108% in real terms in 2010-2019, whereas bank deposits lost 10% in net value
A flawed review process not tackling the heart of the issue
EFAMA has always made it clear that a revision of the PRIIPs Regulatory Technical Standard (RTS) falls short of conducting a proper Level 1 review. A review that is explicitly required by the Level 1 Regulation and is overdue for more than one year.
EFAMA supports the main objectives of CSDR to increase the safety and efficiency of securities settlement, including:
- Shorter settlement periods,
- Prudential and supervisory requirements for CSDs and other institutions providing banking services ancillary to securities settlement,
- The imposition of a penalty regime under CSDR as an important step towards improving settlement efficiency in European capital markets.
The AIFMD is one of the pillars of EU regulation for investment funds, which will be crucial to the development of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and the post Covid-19 economic recovery in the European Union.
EFAMA firmly supports the Commission’s proposed amend of the ELTIF Regulation, in line with its recently revamped “new” CMU.
- Asset managers represent an important group of benchmarks’ users. In this context, EURIBOR rate is used by investment funds across all kinds of asset classes and financial instruments, as well as a benchmark for measuring fund performance, driving fee calculations and determining asset allocation.
- The identification of fallback rates for the contract with reference to EURIBOR are essential for asset managers and a stable and permanent approach would make the fallback clauses more robust and ensure further transparency.
EFAMA welcomes this ESMA initiative and we agree with the conclusions in the ESMA Report that there is an overall need to strengthen the laws applicable to data in connection with the MiFIDII/MiFIR Review, aside the implementation of a Consolidated Tape . We consider that the draft Guidelines will further strengthen the MiFID level 1 and level 2 measures and will foster the establishment of a cost-based approach for market data procurement. Therefore, we would be in favour of turning the proposed guidelines into binding regulation.

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