Brussels, 16th April 2014 - For immediate release
EFAMA welcomes legislative steps towards the better protection of retail investors
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has welcomed the adoption by the European Parliament of two important pieces of legislation which will significantly contribute to further enhancing the protection of retail investors and to rebuilding their trust in financial markets.
UCITS V
The amendments brought to the UCITS directive will raise to an even greater level the already high-standards of protection enjoyed by UCITS investors and reconfirm its status as the state-of-the-art regulation for investment funds worldwide. They should also bolster the international recognition of UCITS as the vehicle of choice for the international distribution of investment funds.
In particular, the strengthening and harmonisation of the UCITS depositary regime means clients assets will be better protected.
We are looking forward to pursuing our constructive dialogue with the European Commission and ESMA. This will involve working towards the development of measures to be adopted before the revised UCITS directive comes into force.
PRIIPS
Since it was first discussed in 2006, EFAMA has been in favour of the PRIIPs initiative, which brings investors interests to the forefront. The Key Information Document (KID) required by the PRIIPs Regulation will enhance transparency and increase investor protection. By enabling investors to compare different packaged investment opportunities or products, consumers will be better equipped to make an informed investment decisions. EFAMA welcomes the agreement reached by the co-legislators on this important issue, which will play an active role in mitigating the risk of the mis-selling of investment products.
As the PRIIPs regulation will apply on a cross industry basis (asset management, bank and insurance), EFAMA welcomes the willingness of policy makers to reach a level playing field in the disclosure of such products offered to consumers. However, it is only a first step, as EFAMA believes further work will be needed to capture other similar products which are not already included in the scope of the PRIIPs regulation.
We are looking forward to pursuing our constructive dialogue with the European Commission and ESMA, as we work collaboratively towards developing the implementation of these measures.
Peter De Proft, Director General of EFAMA, said:
EFAMA welcomes the adoption of the PRIIPs regulation. From the beginning, we have been strong supporters of this initiative. It is an important step towards a better protection of retail investors. The Key Investor Document a synthetic, plain language document already well-known to UCITS investors will enable them to make better informed investment decisions and will facilitate comparisons between different types of retail investment products, therefore contributing to a level playing field across competing retail products.
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About the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA):
EFAMA is the representative association for the European investment management industry. EFAMA represents through its 27 member associations and 62 corporate members about EUR 15 trillion in assets under management of which EUR 9.8 trillion managed by over 55,000 investment funds at end December 2013. Just over 35,600 of these funds were UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities) funds. For more information about EFAMA, please visit www.efama.org
