Polling sessions during Clearstream’s Fund Summit in Brussels revealed that 60 percent of the 150 delegates anticipate that the increase of costs for depositaries posed by the new AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive) rules will be significant and will outweigh the advantages. On the alternative fund manager side, 56 percent of the delegates say AIFMD will significantly impact their operational, legal and/or governance model set-up.
47 percent of the delegates – representing investment fund distributors, fund managers, asset managers and transfer agents – expressed that, going forward, AIFs (Alternative Investment Funds) will be marketed with an EU passport. Restrictive private placement regimes at national levels were the key reason for this anticipation. Another 47 percent of market experts expect the use of both distribution models (with and without an EU passport) in parallel until 2018 when private placement rules are abandoned.
Philippe Seyll, Member of Executive Board and Head of Investment Funds Services at Clearstream, said the discussions at the Summit clearly demonstrated that there is still a high level of uncertainty imposed by AIFMD in the industry. Many market players are still looking for a sound solution to overcome the challenges – operational and liability risks – posed by the AIFMD. “We are engaging with a broad cross-section of the fund industry including the distributors, transfer agents and depositary banks to help the market meet its increased obligations following AIFMD,” he said. “As an ICSD, we bring efficiency and safety into the market and under AIFMD we need to go beyond. We are adding value in terms of risk management obligations of our customers that are under increasing focus in the new regulatory regime. Discussing these issues at another successful Fund Summit confirmed that we are on the right track with our envisaged service offering to depositary banks and prime brokers that represent AIFs.”
More than 150 delegates from across Europe attended the summit to discuss the future impact of regulatory changes and future industry developments in the asset management and money market industry. This was the 10th annual Fund Summit organised by Clearstream which is a leading investment funds services provider through its Vestima platform in addition to offering a full securities services suite across all major asset classes.