CP12/32: Implementation of the Alternative ... - BVCA admin

Annex 1
November 2012
CP12/32
Implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive
• Ernst & Young (2012) ‘AIFMD: get ready for European depositary reform’. 4
• The European commission’s impact assessment from 2009. 5
10. The FSA’s preliminary firm survey was sent to a sample of potential AIFMs in April 2012.
It outlined at a high level the requirements in the Level 1 Directive and the draft Level 2
Regulation, and asked firms to estimate costs and assess business model impacts. From the 36
firms that responded, 22 firms expected to have UK AIFMs within their group structures and
to be above the AIFMD Article 3(2) thresholds. These AIFMs managed around £179.5bn
worth of assets in AIFs. Other respondents either had not completely filled out the survey,
expected to be below the Article 3(2) thresholds, or did not expect to have UK AIFMs.
11. Almost all respondents found it difficult to provide meaningful and detailed cost estimates,
as, at the time we were surveying firms, there was still uncertainty about the content and
impact of the Level 2 requirements.
12. Unfortunately, we received too few responses for these to be representative of the whole
highly heterogeneous, population of funds to be managed by future AIFMs. We therefore
have not quantitatively assessed the impact on the specific types of AIFMs.
Overview of the population of firms affected
13. AIFMD will directly affect managers of different types of AIFs, including UCIS covering
hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real estate funds; investment trusts; NURS
and other types of investment funds.
14. However, it is not yet fully determined which types of AIFMs will be in scope of AIFMD.
ESMA is currently developing technical standards on this matter, and as the Level 2
Regulation has not yet been finalised, assessing the AIFMD perimeter is beyond the scope
of this CP and CBA.
15. The AIFMD will also affect other types of firms that provide services to AIFMs, predominantly:
• depositaries;
• prime brokers;
• valuation agents; and
• other administrators and service providers.
4 The Ernst & Young report can be accessed here: www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/AIFMD_-_prepare_for_European_depositary_
reform/$FILE/AIFMD_20March2012.pdf
5 European Commission’s impact assessment (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/investment/docs/alternative_investments/fund_
managers_impact_assessment.pdf) and the CRA report (www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/Impact_of_AIFM_Directive.pdf)
Financial Services Authority A1:3