Four centres get ESMA’s AIFMD seal of approval
By Hannah Beecham, IFAonline
Guernsey, Jersey, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands have all received approval from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for co-operation agreements.
Approval means all four finance centres can continue to deliver alternative investment funds business into Europe after the introduction of the Directive this coming July.
Law firm Carey Olsen, which has offices in all of these centres, explains that what this means in practice is that finance centre managers will “have continued market access to EU/EEA professional investors after the commencement date of the AIFM Directive on 22 July 2013 through Member State national private placement regimes until at least 2018, subject to complying with the limited provisions applicable to third country managers.”
As such this latest co-operation agreement means that managers now have the choice of avoiding the uncertainty, time and cost issues associated with full Directive compliance.
Speaking on behalf of Guernsey’s Financial Services Commission on reaction to ESMA’s announcement, Director of Investment Business Carl Rosumek, said, “I am pleased that, following months of detailed work and engagement with ESMA, that ESMA has approved the co-operation arrangements between the Commission and EU securities regulators. ESMA’s approval of these arrangements is a positive endorsement of the Commission. The arrangements will further improve cross-border supervision of the funds industry and ultimately reinforce investor protection in the cross border operations of alternative funds.”
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