EFAMA has published its latest Monthly Statistical Release for September 2024.
EFAMA has published its latest Monthly Statistical Release for September 2024.
The undersigned associations welcome the new European Commission’s objectives to boost the EU’s competitiveness, focus on the enforcement of existing legislation and simplify regulatory frameworks. We appreciate that this was also echoed by the Commissioner-Designate Maria Luis Albuquerque during her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.
European Commission must ensure they don’t hinder much-needed EU investment
Following recent market disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK gilt market crisis, the European Commission is reviewing the adequacy of macroprudential policies for non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI). In July 2024, they launched a consultation to determine whether the EU should repurpose specific micro-prudential instruments or introduce new macroprudential requirements.
In its response to the Commission’s consultation on assessing the adequacy of macroprudential policies for NBFI, EFAMA stresses that Europe needs more holistic and rigorous analyses to determine where financial stability risks lie. Unfortunately, even though investment funds have proven resilient in recent years despite frequent market disruptions, the consultation focuses on the asset management industry.
EFAMA publishes its latest Monthly Statistical Release for August 2024.
Hailin Yang, Data Analyst at EFAMA, comments: “In August, the market environment remained positive, with all UCITS categories except multi-asset funds showing positive net sales. Money market funds registered the highest net sales, but also ETFs continued to draw solid net inflows.”
The main developments in August can be summarised as follows:
EFAMA responded to ESMA’s consultations on regulatory technical standards and guidelines, which aim to provide EU asset managers with further details on a broad and harmonised list of liquidity management tools (LMTs). As part of the recent AIFMD and UCITS review, these improvements will support our industry’s response to liquidity pressures, both in normal and stressed market conditions, while also protecting the interests of investors.
European asset managers welcome the joint statement from the European Commission, ESMA and the ECB putting a firm foot forward, and ‘accelerating the technical work’ needed to prepare the EU’s T1 transition
The European T+1 Industry Task Force, comprising 21 trade associations involved in European capital markets, was established in 2023 to bring together a diverse group of industry stakeholders who would be impacted by a move to a default T+1 settlement cycle for securities traded and settled in the EU.
EFAMA has some concerns with ESMA’s clarifications. In the consultation paper (CP), ESMA seems to have a very broad interpretation of the ‘multilateral systems’ definition under MiFID II and states that ‘systems where trading interests can interact but where the execution of transactions is formally undertaken outside the system still qualify as a multilateral system and should be required to seek authorisation’ (paragraph 36).
We disagree with an extension of its scope to UCITS’ and AIFs’ management companies to the scope of the reporting requirements imposed by MiFIR, Art. 26. This extension would be in breach of the principle of proportionality, as:
Article 51(5) of the BMR provides that, unless the Commission has adopted an equivalence decision in relation to a particular third country, a third country administrator has been recognised or a third country benchmark has been endorsed, EU supervised entities may only use a third country benchmark in financial instruments, financial contracts and measurements of the performance of an investment fund that already reference the relevant benchmark prior to 31 December 2021.
EFAMA is grateful for the opportunity to comment on some messages included in the aforementioned roadmap. We believe that these comments should be made clear for all persons interested, especially to those who would like to participate in the upcoming public consultation.
Asset managers represent an important group of benchmark users, either in the case of index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) - where benchmarks are used as a target for index tracking funds - or in the case of the evaluation of an active manager’s performance - where the fund performance is measured against a selected index or a set of indices.
EFAMA, the voice of the European investment management industry, believes that, for retail clients, standardised disclosure of information can improve the comparability of financial products that promote environmental and/or social characteristics or have a sustainable objective. It will also contribute to the broader policy objectives of the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) to enhance transparency towards end-investors, hold market participants accountable and fight greenwashing.

Discover the 6 reasons why your organisation should become a member of EFAMA.
Our members enjoy significant benefits including the opportunity to shape the industry positions, get first-hand access to regulatory and political intelligence, engage with industry peers and policymakers, and take part in EFAMA events.
Our three membership categories cater to the wide range of organisations that make up and support the investment management industry in Europe.