18 November 2022

Keynote speech by Commissioner McGuinness at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) Investment Management Forum

Just a few remarks then on where we are and indeed where we are heading.

Starting by saying that your industry - the asset management industry - has a really important role to play in our European capital markets.

And as was said, a lot remains to be done.

This is very much a work in progress.

It is a long road with perhaps some difficult twists and turns to it.

But there is absolute commitment on the Commission's side that we develop the Capital Markets Union.

This is important because we need to have alternative sources of financing.

From your side, you manage the money of both retail and institutional investors, and help them to manage risks and get return on their investments.

This is a key source of funding for companies that want to grow and expand.

So really important from our Capital Markets Union perspective.

I mentioned the issue of alternative sources of financing, and also the role of capital markets in building a resilient European economy

We are too reliant on bank finance and we need that to change, and our work is in that direction.

Because we want to give investors more opportunities to invest across the whole of the single market, to support growth and to support a more competitive European Union at a global level.

We began our work on the CMU action plan in 2015, I was still a Member of the European Parliament at that stage.

But there has been significant progress made since then.

So far the Parliament and Member States have agreed on 12 out of 13 legislative proposals in the action plan.

These include new rules on securitisation, covered bonds, crowdfunding and the strengthening of SME growth markets.

We've developed a set of indicators to measure progress.

And I want thank EFAMA for working on the development of those indicators for the asset management industry.

Two years ago, in 2020, we adopted a new action plan stepping up our work on CMU, and here too, we are making progress on implementation.

Last year, we had our proposal, which was referenced, on the revision of the European Long-Term Investment Fund regulation – and indeed just last month the EU institutions reached a political agreement on this revised regulation.

Again, here we're simplifying the rules, opening these funds up to a wider range of investors.

We've also proposed the European single access point – which is a major innovation for our markets.

And it creates a one-stop-shop for companies financial and sustainability information.

European Commission

© European Commission