It gives me great pleasure to provide you with an overview of our activities since our Ordinary General Meeting of last year.

As with the two previous editions, this report is structured around the work and main achievements of our nine Committees (and related Working Groups/Taskforces) and two Platforms. These bodies are the lifeblood of our association as they bear overall responsibility for developing sound and evidence-based common positions on relevant EU and global regulatory initiatives. As they are open to all members, please reach out to the Secretariat in case you want to join a Committee where your organisation is not yet represented. We need your expertise to develop robust and substantiated positions which are sine qua nons for effective business representation at European level.

Besides our policy and advocacy work of the last 12 months, several developments are worth highlighting, including:

• Our new premises: the move was completed on time despite the challenging circumstances. This will allow us to substantially reduce overhead costs and put membership fees to more productive use (increased headcount). We look forward to showing you around our new offices.

• Our stepped-up communication efforts: our positions are more frequently covered in the media and we have improved our web and social media presence (revamped website, constant increase of followers).

• Our proactivity: anticipating the UCITS review, we are working on an important UCITS project together with our associate member Deloitte.

• Our statistical and research activities: we are currently assessing our data needs to ensure access to the data required to support our positions on key policy topics, and we have created a Research Fund to help finance future research projects. 

• Our programme of events is more in line with our regulatory priorities (AIFMD, PRIIPs, ELTIF, financial education, retirement savings, etc.).

• The overall high-level of membership satisfaction, as demonstrated by the results of the Standing Committee members’ satisfaction survey from January 2021.

• The joining of two new corporate members and two new associate members. 

• The launch of important new templates by FinDatEx, where EFAMA plays an instrumental role.

I am grateful to the EFAMA staff for its continuous hard work and always positive mindset. I am equally thankful to Nicolas Calcoen, Myriam Vanneste and Jarkko Syyrilä for their dedication and unconditional support over the past two years and to all the Board members for their strategic guidance and constructive contributions. 

I look forward to working with the newly elected Presidency and Board and to continuing to serve you all.

Let’s hope we can meet in person again very soon.

Stay safe,

Tanguy van de Werve
Director General