Swedish Presidency progress report on AIFMD – discussions continue

17 December 2009

The AIFMD is currently one of the most polemic proposals. It has already been discussed a dozen times in relevant Council Working Party meetings, but a number of issues still remain unsolved, including depositaries, remuneration and third-country passports.

The AIFMD is currently one of the most polemic proposals. It has been discussed in 12 Working Party on Financial Services meetings during the Czech and Swedish Presidencies and there are still a number of issues to solve including  depositaries, remuneration and third-country passports. 

State of play:

Following the latest meeting of the Working Party held on 3-4 December 2009, the following key issues remain outstanding :

a) Depositaries

The views of delegations are divided on whether the tasks of depositaries could also be given to other organisations apart from credit institutions and investment firms, although most delegations are in favour of more alternatives in order certain business models are not made impossible in the future. Also, the issue of the depositary's liability in case of delegation of its tasks remains unresolved.

b) Valuation

The open issues relate to the use of different types of valuers to different business models, the frequency of valuation for different types of funds and, in particular, the independence of the valuer, including liability issues.

c) Remuneration

The views of delegations diverge in particular on whether one should apply the same kind of detailed remuneration rules as agreed in the context of the latest revision.

Capital Requirements Directive for the banking sector. Should one seek rules better adapted to alternative investment fund managers, especially as regards carried interest?

d) Third-country issues

There are concerns related to ensuring a level playing field between marketing EU and non-EU funds in the EU. The concerns boil down to the possible carve-out of depositary requirements for non-EU funds managed by EU managers.

Apart from the above-mentioned issues, there is a high degree of convergence of views on the rest of the text. As to the other remaining open issues, the Presidency is of the view that most of them can be resolved by further technical drafting.

 

Progress report

 


© Presidency