Press Release
For immediate release
EFAMA discusses current key issues for the industry at its AGM in Vienna
Vienna, 15th June 2012 - The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) held its 67th Annual General Meeting (AGM) today in Vienna.Hosted by VIG, the Austrian Investment Management Association, EFAMA used the AGM to officially welcome the following firms as new corporate members: Commerz Fund solutions, Pimco Europe, and Principal Global Investors (taking the total number of corporate members to 59) and AllFunds Bank and Linklaters as Associate Members (total of 20).
Discussion at the AGM focused on the unprecedented wave of regulatory initiatives affecting the European asset management industry, coming both from an EU level and national level but also from other parts of the world, principally FATCA, Dodd-Frank and the Volcker Rule. Participants agreed that this breath-taking amount of regulation needs to be informed by a high quality of meaningful debate and not by the strength of any one voice or perspective.
The industry recognised that much of this regulatory change is designed to provide for more efficient monitoring of systemic risks and better investor protection. While EFAMA does not consider asset managers to be a key driver of systemic risk, investor protection is very much at the heart of its policy and practice agenda. Members expressed concern that the unintended consequences of the broader regulation, aimed at other parts of the financial services sector, targets problems that contributed to previous financial crises rather than improve the landscape for the investor going forward.
Furthermore, participants believed that the pace and nature of regulatory change may also see some enforced consolidation within the industry, as it becomes more difficult for smaller asset managers to survive and prosper, which ultimate removes genuine choice in the market for investors and hampers innovation and diversity.
Claude Kremer, President of EFAMA, comments at the AGM: We continue to work with Regulators and government bodies across the globe to ensure that regulatory change is appropriate, measured and relevant and delivers increased stability, confidence and support for long term efficient and accessible savings by investors across Europe. Despite the constant bombardment of investors with negative views, EFAMA continues to work with its members and other industry stakeholders to improve confidence and look for ways to identify and harness opportunities for investor.
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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 26 member associations and 58 corporate members approximately EUR 14 trillion in assets under management of which EUR 7.9 trillion was managed by approximately 54,000 funds at end 2011. Just above 36,000 of these funds were UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities) funds. For more information about EFAMA, please visit www.efama.org.
