Efama

This week’s overview of appointments and people transfers includes updates from European fund and asset management association Efama, EY Luxembourg, LuxReal, and Sygnum Bank.

Europe’s financial watchdogs are setting their sights on non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), a sector that has grown increasingly prominent as an alternative to traditional banks in providing credit.

BNP Paribas CEO and Efama president Sandro Pierri stresses that fiduciary duty remains central for European asset managers as the sector grapples with structural challenges, capital outflows, and transformative changes.

Efama chief Tanguy van de Werve highlights the urgent need for tax harmonisation to overcome fragmentation and create a competitive, unified European market.

With the European Commission confirming on Tuesday that the Level 2 Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for the revised European Long-Term Investment Funds (Eltifs) regime are on track, the alternatives industry is shifting its focus towards overcoming operation challenges such as on co-investments, liquidity management and handling different tax regimes across the EU market.

How non-EU investors drive growth in European funds and why vigilance remains crucial in the European investment landscape.

Asset managers are expressing concerns over the European Commission’s lack of a clear definition for “value for money,” arguing its subjective nature complicates the assessment of investment service costs amidst new regulatory pressures.

The current approach to the EU’s retail investment strategy may not adequately address broader issues such as the retirement savings gap, reflecting a need for a more holistic approach to financial education and pension policies, a leading European industry representative argues.

Representatives of the European asset management industry believe that lawmakers in Brussels need to step up their efforts to make sure that new voting rules for SMEs and scale-up companies strike a balance between the needs of investors and issuers. The proposal is also of importance to private equity firms investing in these companies.

European fund and asset management association Efama has raised significant concerns over the proposed regulatory technical standards and implementing technical standards for the Digital Operational Resilience Act, the cybersecurity plan known as Dora, criticising the measures as excessively broad and disproportionate. Efama, whose Luxembourg member is Alfi, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry,  argues that a “one size fits all” approach will be inordinately burdensome, particularly for asset management companies.