‘Navigating a shifting regulatory landscape’ report

We’ve launched our latest research report ‘Navigating a shifting regulatory landscape’. We surveyed 115 alternative investment fund managers from across Europe, North America and Asia to find out their views on how AIFMD has impacted managers’ ability to market AIFs across Europe, how effective the Directive has been and the challenges managers have faced.

Introduced in 2011, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) was developed with a primary objective of improving protection for alternative investors by insisting on greater transparency around areas such as conflicts of interest, valuations and liquidity profiles. The Directive was also intended to remove elements of the systemic risk that alternative funds can present to the European economy.

In January 2019, the EU Commission reported on the success of AIFMD in meeting these objectives. While it concluded that the Directive has satisfactorily created an internal market for AIFs and a harmonised regulatory and supervisory framework for managers, it also concluded that the AIFMD has generated its own set of “unintended consequences” and some challenges remain. Among other concerns, these include variances in implementation across member states and duplication with other regulation such as MiFID II and PRIIPs.

For Intertrust, few pieces of regulation have resulted in the heightened demand for client guidance as AIFMD. We’ve seen strong interest from clients for market insights, regulatory best-practice, comprehensive administrative support and, ultimately, solutions that mean they realise their strategic objectives within the AIFMD framework.

With discussions around AIFMD II now accelerating, we surveyed alternative investment managers in private equity, real estate, hedge and infrastructure about AIFMD, the issues they have faced and the concerns they have.

The findings were thought-provoking and painted a picture of a market embracing AIFMD but one that continues to need guidance and to rely on comprehensive, end-to-end advice and implementation.

For instance, the majority of respondents foresee the quantity of assets deployed by managers in AIFMD-compliant structures increasing over the next two years as well as many also saying that non-uniformity of AIFMD interpretation across different jurisdictions was a real challenge. It’s in this sort of environment that third party service providers are able to provide the value-add service that managers need to succeed and thrive.

We have extensive experience of AIFMD and, we believe, an unparalleled team of experts in numerous jurisdictions focused on helping our clients navigate through and benefit from such regulation. We hope you find this report both interesting and insightful.

Read the full report here