24 November 2006

Speech McCreevy: Fulfilling the Promise of Europe’s Asset Management Industry

In a speech held before the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin Commissioner McCreevy neglected the “myth” of an unregulated hedge fund market in Europe and announced the publication of an exposure draft on UCITS for public consultation in February or early March next year. “Depending on reaction to this exposure draft, we would hope to issue the Commission’s formal proposal in autumn 2007”, he said.

“It is a myth that European hedge funds are not regulated”, the Commissioner said. “In this respect, the situation is very different from the US where there has been limited regulatory action on hedge funds to date”, McCreevy said and underlined that the Commission does not intend to take further action at EU level at this time.

With regard to non-harmonised retail funds the Commission intends to undertake a detailed assessment of whether such funds should be available to retail investors on a cross-border basis. “We will report on our findings in mid-2008”, McCreevy announced.

“As to non-harmonised funds, we propose to free up cross-border transactions between suitably qualified investors”, he said. “MiFiD and the Prospectus Directive put in place some of the key building-blocks of such a regime. In autumn 2007, I will report on steps needed to give full effect to a common private placement regime”.

Full speech

© European Commission