Managed Funds Association (MFA) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments in response to the European Commission’s (the Commission) proposed regulation to amend various European regulations establishing European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). While the proposed regulation covers a wide range of issues with respect to the various ESAs, our comments are narrowly focused on a few specific provisions in the proposed regulation that we believe could impact alternative fund managers, including U.S.-based managers. In particular, MFA encourages the Commission to consider amendments to the proposed regulation with respect to the following issues:
1. Coordination on delegation and outsourcing of activities as well as of risk transfers;
2. Annual third country equivalence review and confidential report by relevant ESAs; and,
3. Expanding the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) temporary intervention powers under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) to the marketing of alternative investment funds (AIF) and undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) by their managers.
We believe that our suggested amendments to these provisions, set out in our letter, would minimize regulatory and market uncertainty while remaining consistent with the underlying policy objectives of the proposed regulation and the Commission’s Capital Markets Union.
