Olivier Sciales Law Blog

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published on January 30 a consultation paper proposing future guidelines for exchange-traded funds established as Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities and other issues related to the Ucits regime.

The Esma proposals cover both physical ETFs, which replicate the performance of stock, bond, commodity, currency or other indices by holding shares or other securities in the proportions that make... Read More

The European Securities and Market Authority’s 500 pages of technical advice to the European Commission on Level 2 measures implementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive have helped to bring greater certainty to the global fund industry on what it can expect in July 2013 and thereafter.

Nevertheless, until the Commission comes up with the final rulebook and all primary and secondary AIFMD-related legislation is adopted into the national law of... Read More

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published on November 16 its final advice to the European Commission on the detailed rules underlying and implementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The Commission is expected to issue the rules in the form of subsidiary legislation and regulation by the middle of next year.

According to Esma, its proposed rules should establish a comprehensive framework for alternative investment funds, their... Read More

Four and a half years after Luxembourg introduced the law creating the Specialist Investment Fund regime for alternative vehicles, the grand duchy’s government has drafted legislation amending the SIF rules.

The new legislation, which was placed before the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) on August 12 and which is expected to become law before the end of this year, aims principally to adapt... Read More

The European Securities and Markets Authority has issued a consultation paper setting out draft technical advice to the European Commission on the detailed Level 2 rules that will underlie the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Esma is asking for feedback from industry members by September 13, allowing it to finalise its advice to the Commission in time for submission by the deadline of November 16.The proposals published in Esma’s consultation paper cover three broad areas: g... Read More

The European Union’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers will come into force on July 21 following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 1.

The directive received formal approval by the EU Council at a meeting of transport, telecommunications and energy ministers on May 27. It was formally signed at Strasbourg on June 8 by Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, and Enik¿ Gy¿, Hungary’s minister of... Read More

After more than 18 months of often-heated debate and a succession of at
times contradictory drafts seeking to reconcile strongly-held opposing
positions, European Union economic affairs and finance ministers and then the
European Parliament finally agreed last November on a final version of the
Directive on Alternative investment Fund Managers.

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Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and European Union member states have endorsed with minor changes the version of the Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers agreed last week by EU economic affairs and finance ministers.

The accord by the so-called ‘trialogue’ meeting means that both the Parliament and the European Council, which in May approved conflicting drafts of the directive, have now signed up to the compromise... Read More

UK finance minister George Osborne and his French counterpart, Christine Lagarde, are expected to hold discussions next week (between 18 October and 23 October) on the European Union’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers ahead of a full meeting of the EU Council of economic affairs and finance ministers.

Talks in Brussels on Wednesday between member states’ ambassadors to the EU failed to resolve continuing differences over the rules governing access to EU... Read More

Talks are continuing on a fresh compromise draft of the Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers issued by the Belgian EU presidency last week despite the failure of representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and member states to reach agreement at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, October 11.

The new round of meetings, which was scheduled to continue on Tuesday, follows France’s indication that it is willing to compromise by allowing funds and... Read More