Cross-border distribution of collective investment funds

Briefing 27-08-2018

The European Commission recently issued a legislative proposal to increase cross-border distribution of investment funds. This briefing provides an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the impact assessment accompanying the Commission's proposal. Based on both internal and some external sources, as well as several stakeholder consultations, the impact assessment provides useful information, but lacks coherence and transparency. It acknowledges some limitations, citing lack of data and the influence of other factors, which are out of the scope of the impact assessment. The range of proposed policy options is rather limited for some areas. The impact assessment focuses on average cost effects for asset managers (and for competent authorities), without taking into account social or territorial implications and without analysing, for instance, the effects on SMEs or on the EU27 after Brexit.