Concerns mount that the July 22 deadline for the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) is no longer feasible.
Peter De Proft, director general at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama) says he is concerned that the July 22 deadline is “a little too ambitious”.
EU countries need to transpose the directive and its associated Level 2 measures into national law in just four months, which De Proft says would be a “major achievement”.
The Level 2 measures set out some general principles with which alternative fund managers must comply when delegating and specify the types of entities that need to meet these criteria.
De Proft says the Level 2 measures are complicated and that “it would be advisable to have another six months to implement them”.
More worryingly, he says, is that there are different levels of interpretation in Europe, which goes against the concept of a single market.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) also has to develop technical standards for co-operation agreements that must be concluded by the home member state and supervisory authorities from outside the European Union.
De Proft raised concerns that Esma will not have enough time to make these agreements with regulators in places like the Cayman Islands, China, Hong Kong and the US.
Tilman Lueder, head of asset management unit at the European Commission, says with the entry into force of the delegated regulation on 11 April, 2013, the commission has adopted all measures to ensure timely application of the AIFMD as of 22 July.
A spokesperson for Esma says: “We are aware of the 22 July deadline and are currently working on a number of agreements with the authorities of third countries as a matter of priority… We are nevertheless confident that these agreements will be signed by the AIFMD transposition deadline but, as with any negotiation of this kind we are also dependent on the willingness of the other parties – in this case the relevant third-country authorities – to come to an agreement in time.”
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