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.
Distance marketing of consumer financial services – Review of EU rules
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.
Monthly Statistics July 2021 | Net Sales of UCITS and AIFs continue to rise
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.”
Position on the scope of CSRD and the interplay with SFDR
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.
International Statistics Q2 2021 | Worldwide regulated open-ended fund assets increased by 4.7%
EFAMA published its latest quarterly international statistics, tracking and analysing trends in worldwide regulated open-ended fund assets and flows for Q2 2021.
The main developments can be summarised as follows:
EFAMA Vice-president Peter Branner to speak at POLITICO Live event
Tune in on 12 October at 9.00 am CEST to POLITICO Live’s event “Raising the green game in finance: how can Europe deliver?” with the participation of EFAMA's Vice-president Peter Branner from APG Asset Management. He will be joined by
Welcome to Manulife and Macfarlanes!
We are thrilled to announce that Manulife Investment Management, an international investment management firm for institutional investors, and Macfarlanes, a top international law firm, have joined EFAMA.
The EFAMA Board approved their respective memberships on 14 September 2021.
Please join us in welcoming them to the EFAMA community!
UK clearing house equivalence - request from nine trade associations
Nine associations (AFME, AIMA, EAPB, EBF, EFAMA, FIA, ICI, ISDA, SIFMA AMG) welcome the Commission's decision to grant a time-limited equivalence decision in respect of UK CCPs. However, when this time-limited equivalence decision expires on 30 June 2022, there remains a significant risk of disruption to clearing for EU firms and to their access to global markets.
Fund managers retain only 41% of the total cost paid by retail investors | Market Insights | Issue #6
EFAMA has released its latest Market Insights report titled “Perspective on the costs of UCITS”. The full report breaks down the costs of UCITS, focusing on the fees charged for the different services provided along the investment fund value chain and distinguishing between the product cost for which fund managers are directly responsible, and the
European Statistics Q2 2021 | UCITS and AIFs attract EUR 430 billion in first half of 2021
EFAMA published its latest quarterly European statistics, tracking and analysing trends in European regulated open-ended fund assets and net flows during Q2 2021, including insight on the owners of investment funds in Europe and their net purchases of funds during the first quarter of 2021.
The main developments through the quarter are as follows:
IOSCO´s consultation on ESG ratings and data products providers
Given the increasingly important role ESG ratings and data products providers play in investment processes, EFAMA welcomes the increased attention of regulators to this issue. In light of the growing regulatory scrutiny on the ESG characteristics of potential investments, improving the usability and reliability of the ESG ratings and data products is a key priority for the European asset management industry.
Industry calls for reasonable implementation timeline for PRIIPs changes
EFAMA and several other financial industry associations, raised concerns in response to a consultation conducted by the European Commission on planned changes to the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) framework.
The unexpected delay to the adoption of the revised PRIIPs RTS cuts the implementation period for the industry by more than two months. This leaves PRIIPs manufacturers and distributors with a too short period instead of the original timeframe of 12 months to implement the new rules.