EFAMA

EFAMA’s Director General Tanguy van de WERVE had a remote fireside chat with DG FISMA’s Director General John Berrigan at the 37th annual conference of The International Investment Funds Association held earlier this week in Dublin. A great opportunity to exchange views on the Savings & Investments Union, the need to make the EU an attractive investment destination for international investors, the importance of preserving the status of #UCITS as an international gold standard, the necessity to ensure the usability and coherence of the EU sustainable finance regulatory framework, the difference between single supervision and single supervisor, and on the need to move to T+1 settlement. We are grateful to him for his time and his as-always-well-articulated views on this multitude of topics.

The General Assembly of the The International Investment Funds Association (IIFA) has just renewed the composition of the IIFA Board. Europe is currently entitled to four seats on the IIFA Board. The new IIFA Board members from Europe are: Thomas Richter (BVI German Investment Funds Association), Adrian Schatzmann (Asset Management Association Switzerland), Serge Weyland (ALFI - Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry) and Tanguy van de Werve (EFAMA). Their two-year term will end in October 2026. EFAMA is grateful to outgoing European Board members Chris Cummings (The Investment Association), Delphine de Chaisemartin (AFG - Association Française de la Gestion financière) and Pat Lardner (Irish Funds) for their contribution over the last two years. The new #IIFA Chair is Investment Company Institute’s Eric Pan, succeeding The IA’s Chris Cummings. This year’s General Assembly took place in Dublin, kindly hosted by Irish Funds.

📅 Join us on 22 October for an interactive, virtual conference entitled "The future of ELTIF 2.0: A new global label for EU private investment?", which brings together regulators, asset managers, distributors and wealth managers to discuss the future of this revamped product. ✔️ Channeling private investment to support the growth and competitiveness of EU companies is at the top of policymakers’ agendas right now. With new rules in place, ELTIFs could have an important role to play in achieving this goal. 🎤 The event includes a keynote speech from Martin Merlin, Director of Financial Markets at the European Commission, and two panel discussions on the market for ELTIF products and engaging the ELTIF investor. 🗣️ Speakers include Martin Parkes (BlackRock), Ivan Kuznetsov (European Commission), Loredana Carletti (Amundi), Chrystelle Charles-Barral - FRM (Neuberger Berman), Peter Sankey, CFA (Schroders), Pieter Leguit (Simmons & Simmons), Stéphane Blanchoz (BNP Paribas AM), Jocelyn Pidoux (iCapital) and Salvatore Sberna (Azimut Investments). 👉 Registration is free and open to the public and media, find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eg7CyQze #eltif #longterminvestment #cmu

Good coverage of our recent press release on the negative impact of ESMA’s fund naming guidelines on: - green bond funds - the green bond market - the financing of the transition, esp. that of high-emitting utility companies - the overall coherence and credibility of the EU sustainable finance regulatory framework - the EU leadership in the sustainable finance space Our press release is available at https://lnkd.in/eusSrC9Z https://lnkd.in/ek8yMuHM

📣 EFAMA has released a joint statement together with AFME (Association for Financial Markets in Europe), EFSA and the Nordic Securities Association on significant issues with the supervision of market data costs. 💶 Under the latest MiFID/MiFIR rules, market data must be priced on the actual cost of production and dissemination with a reasonable margin, bearing in mind that market data is a by-product of the trading activity. Furthermore, no value-based pricing is allowed. However, ESMA’s current proposals could jeopardise this goal for various reasons: ⚠️ The proposals take a joint cost perspective. ⚠️ Price categorisations allow value-based pricing to continue. ⚠️ The cost calculation allows data providers to charge beyond the cost of production and dissemination, and include undefined additional costs. ⚠️ The standardised definitions or harmonised template for market data policies are inadequate. ⚠️ The proposals for increased transparency are limited. 📊 Market data is indispensable for trading, clearing, settlement, research, investment strategy, trade control, best execution, reporting, accounting, risk management etc. Unless corrected, this situation would allow market data costs to continue increasing significantly, raising the cost of trading in the EU, to the detriment of end-investors and the success of the Capital Markets Union. How to fix the situation: ✔️ Detail exactly which costs can be included by data providers, clearly incorporating the by-product approach. ✔️ Define margins as operating profit. ✔️ Standardise the requirements of the per user approach. ✔️ Prepare an exhaustive list of definitions and a template on the allowed market data policies. ✔️ Require more detailed transparency on pricelists, costs, margins and revenue. ✔️ Ensure that these rules are consistently monitored and enforced by the NCAs #assetmanagement #marketdata #mifid #cmu

Very good two-day conference of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA) here in Dublin. Very much enjoying the fantastic ☘️ hospitality and the many exchanges with industry representatives from 25 jurisdictions covering 5 continents. A lot to learn from other parts of the world, including in the financial education and investor empowerment space. Well done Irish Funds for organising such a great event. 👍

Why does EFAMA support the The European Fund Classification? 1) The EFC is the only classification scheme that is owned and managed solely by the fund industry. 2) It is completely free of charge, both for fund groups/managers and for data users. The entire classification process is done on a non-monetary basis, with results freely available to all interested users.

📣 Join us for our next Regulatory Update call tomorrow, Wednesday 9 October.   Topics covered will include: ✅ AIFMD & UCITS regulatory technical standards ✅ Macroprudential policy for NBFIs ✅ Retail Investment Strategy ✅ Benchmark Regulation review ✅ Financial data access (FIDA) ✅ Sustainable finance & stewardship ✅ UCITS Eligible Assets Directive ✅ Digital operational resilience (DORA) ✅ ELTIF 2.0 ✅ MiFID (consolidated tape, market data & structure reform, best execution) ✅ (CSDR) ✅ Clearing rules ✅ T+1 settlement ✅ Artificial intelligence ✅ Tax update (FASTER, VAT & priorities of the upcoming Polish Presidency)   👉 EFAMA members can register via info@efama.org   🤝 Info on membership benefits available upon request addressed to info@efama.org #assetmanagement #ris #ucits #sustainablefinance

🌱 The EU has been at the forefront of green bond issuances, however the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)’s new Fund Naming Guidelines create inconsistencies with other sustainable finance regulations, like the EU Green Bond Standard, which could hamper the growth of the corporate green bond sector. 🤔 The problem: Sustainable finance regulation dealing with use of proceeds instruments (like the EU Green Bond Standard) focus on the project being financed, not the broader activities of the issuing company. However, the new fund naming rules do exclude companies based on Paris-aligned benchmarks (PAB), regardless of the project they are financing with the bond. 🔍 The impact: A bond fund investing in green bonds might either have to change its name or divest from all bonds by issuers who generate parts of their revenues from PAB-excluded activities. ⚠️ Market implications: This could limit the investable universe for corporate green bond funds, undermine the future success of the recently created EU Green Bond Standard, and make it harder for issuers like utility companies to raise capital for important green investments. 👉 Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/eusSrC9Z #greenbonds #esginvesting #sustainablefinance

Last week, EFAMA was represented by António Frade Correia at the Operational Tax Conference organized by EY. A big thank you to Filipe de Almeida, the EY team, Paul Radcliffe (EY) and Marc Clercx (TAXUD) for hosting such a well-organized event. For EFAMA, it was a fantastic opportunity to continue our productive discussions on the European Commission’s plan to work on the implementing acts that will allow Member States to make Withholding Tax procedures FASTER in the coming years. We are committed to maintaining this momentum to make FASTER a reality, supporting the EU in building the newly rebranded Savings and Investment Union. #EFAMA #OperationalTax #EY #EU #SavingsAndInvestmentUnion #FASTER #TaxConference #WHT #CMU