💡 We are pleased to share the key insights from the #Eurofi Financial Forum in #Budapest, where our Director of EU Affairs, Umar Ahmed, represented Irish Funds. #capitalmarkets #investment #EU
And that’s a wrap for another #Eurofi Financial Forum. It’s been a great few days in Budapest meeting with policy officials; regulators; industry leaders; and Irish Funds members. My key takeaways from the week: 📌 EU #competitiveness will be at the heart of all policy proposals over the coming years. The #Draghi and #Letta reports highlight some of the areas of specific focus and we should expect that they will influence the mandate letters that Commission President von der Leyen will give to her new Commissioners. Balancing Europe’s competitiveness needs with maintaining open markets will be a challenge and policy makers must strike the right balance to ensure that investors continue to have access to the best investment opportunities. 📌 There is a recognition that European rules need to be better calibrated to allow capital markets and financial services to improve funding to Europe’s economy. Expect to see substantial discussions around the current rules for private equity and venture capital, as well as robust debate on the capital and liquidity rules for banks and insurance companies. There will also be calls to ensure that private markets opportunities can be realized. 📌 There will be new ideas on how we can keep European investment within the EU and channelled to EU businesses, which could be through tax incentives, labelling, or other regulatory proposals. This will be a fascinating debate to engage in. At the end of it, we must not lose sight of ensuring that investors are able to access investments that provide them with optimal returns. 📌 Expect a significant focus on tackling the #pensions gap and finding ways to turn Europe’s high savings rate into a high investment rate. The conventional wisdom amongst the policy community is to drive them towards simpler, more cost-effective products. But this doesn’t necessarily mean passive products will always outweigh active ones. 📌 While there is a debate on single supervision, it is widely acknowledged that regulation and supervision will not spur capital markets. That said, the debate on greater powers for ESMA will continue despite a recognition that the bigger problems to solve are challenges around differences in national rules on taxation, insolvency law, company law, etc. 📌 From an asset management and #funds perspective, we start from a great basis with the gold standard of our UCITS and AIFMD frameworks. These have recently undergone reviews and any further changes to these need to be thoroughly considered. It will be important to watch out for the proposals that emerge from EU Member States following the work they had been set earlier this year by the Eurogroup. Nicholas Blake-Knox Colm McDonagh Terri Dempsey Adrian Whelan (He/Him) Vanora Madigan Sarahann Duff Helen O'Beirne Ken Lambe Adrian Lyons Daryl Byrne John Maguire Andrea Kelly FCA Fergus McNally Iain Ferguson Adrian Mulryan
