17/01/2011
By Matt Ritchie
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has called on the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to take the diversity of the hedge fund sector into account when implementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The AIFMD aims to create a comprehensive and secure framework for the supervision and prudential oversight of AIFM in the EU. Once the AIFMD enters into force, all alternative investment fund managers will be required to obtain authorisation and will be subject to ongoing regulation and supervision.
AIMA director of policy and government affairs Jiri Krol said the association was pleased with the fact ESMA was taking the consultation “extremely seriously”, and commended the authority on their professionalism throughout the process.
Responding to the consultation, AIMA pointed out that while some of the larger hedge fund firms may employ several hundred staff and manage over $10 billion, the majority are smaller businesses, with much fewer staff and managing assets of less than $1 billion in many cases.
It was hoped that ESMA would take diversity – “one of the most striking features of the hedge fund sector” – into account when implementing the directive.
“Flexibility, proportionality and openness are three key features which the regulation should retain if it is to succeed in delivering the policy objectives while preserving the existing breadth of business models and strategies,” said Krol.
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