As discussed in our previous blog , ESMA has written to the European Commission ahead of the EU executive’s review of the AIFMD regulation. Although ESMA has recommended a raft of potential changes, one area that appears to be garnering particular attention, is the issue of delegation and substance.
When the European Commission announced back in March 2018, a proposal to amend the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), in order to provide for a uniform regime for “pre-marketing” of alternative investment funds (AIFs) across Europe, there were many commentators that declared that “AIFMD II had finally arrived”.
Last week, ESMA published a letter to the Commission setting out 19 key areas where it believes AIFMD could be improved. Specifically, ESMA’s letter includes: harmonising the AIFMD and UCITS regimes; delegation and substance; liquidity management tools; leverage; and the harmonisation of supervision of cross-border entities.
