ESMA has published a speech by its Executive Director on future challenges for fund managers

By Ciara Davies

The speech focuses on two key topics for the asset management sector; delegation in light of the end of the Brexit transition period and sustainable finance.

Topics covered in the speech included:

1. The European Commission's review of the Alternative Fund Managers Directive, focusing on the need to recognise the increased operational complexities and supervisory risks that come with large scale delegation arrangements. In a letter to the European Commission in August 2020, ESMA addressed the issue of delegation and its belief that all AIFs should be subject to consistent regulatory standards regardless of status or location, especially in the case of delegation to non-EU entities that may be subject to different regulatory standards.
2. The need to ensure a stronger alignment between the AIFMD rules and those under the UCITS framework to enhance investor protection and reduce operations and legal complexity.
3. In relation to ESMA's work on sustainable finance, an overview of some of the responses that had been received on draft technical standards on disclosures under the Regulation ((EU) 2019/2088) on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR), as well as on its survey on product templates. ESMA will be revising the technical standards to reflect feedback, in particular on data availability. ESMA is trying to create a set of disclosures that cover very different types of products to be included in various underlying disclosure documents.
4. The European Supervisory Authorities (including ESMA, the EBA and EIOPA) plan to launch a consultation paper in January 2021 on additional taxonomy related product disclosures stemming from the Taxonomy Regulation ((EU) 2020/852).

For further information, a copy of the speech can be found here.