Displaying items for 2017

Mathematical economist Irving Fisher once confidently assured his followers that prosperity would be in a perpetual state, arguing that the stock market had reached “what looks like a permanently high plateau.” The only issue was that he made those comments in 1929 and three days later the stock market nosedived leading to the Great Depression. In short, making predictions is not for the faint-hearted, but New City Initiative (NCI) will have a go, looking at some of the key regulatory trends likely to impact asset management in 2018. MiFID II MiFID II will be EU-wide law on January 3, 2018, one year…

  Clarity about the UK-EU future relationship may be provided later this year, a full seven months after Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon was invoked by PM Theresa May, which ratified the start of Brexit talks. It is hoped the EU will sign off on a transitional arrangement for the UK in December 2017, a milestone which would significantly reduce the risk of a sudden, hard Brexit.  A transitional agreement would allow impacted organisations such as fund managers, their staff and clients to accustom themselves gradually to the new UK-EU relationship, with limited disruption. A transitional agreement is fully supported…

The simplicity by which an AIF or UCITS can structure itself in an onshore EU market (Luxembourg, Ireland, Malta) and delegate the running of its portfolio and oversight of risk management back to the manager in a third country is a fundamental reason as to why both of these brands have enjoyed considerable popular appeal and global success. Put simply, delegation is a cost-effective way of getting an AIFM or UCITS running without having to invest in onshore physical infrastructure. That the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is potentially calling into question this existing set-up should alarm not just UK…

2018 is likely to be a fairly difficult year from a regulatory perspective for asset managers. Sandwiched between Brexit planning and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) compliance lies the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR will become EU-wide law in May 2018 yet many in the asset management world have not given it due priority. This is ill-advised. As the name would suggest, GDPR demands companies (of which asset managers are included) make material improvements around how they manage data on behalf of customers and employees within the EU. A failure to do this properly could result in…

In less than five months, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) will become UK law. The asset management industry – certainly in the UK – has faced a number of disruptions over the preceding 12 months including a hard-hitting Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) market study, and Brexit.  Brexit remains an unknown, but it is an obvious priority for managers distributing UCITS or AIFMs into the EU. It is understandable that some managers may have been morepreoccupied with formalising or contemplating the best way to navigate Brexit than MiFID II.  Analysis of 562 asset managers of all sizes in June 2017 by RSRCHXchange found 54% of firms…