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The AIFMD has not caused US managers to take a strategic decision to expand into Europe or stay out of it. Instead, US managers continue to take an opportunistic, investor-led approach to Europe. Most US managers are focusing on just one or two European markets and private placement is overwhelmingly the preferred option for these managers.
US managers said they would become AIFMD compliant if there were sufficient investors for their funds to make it worthwhile, though AIFMD has raised the bar in terms of what ‘sufficient’ means. The biggest concerns amongst US managers surrounding AIFMD were remuneration disclosure provisions and regulatory costs.
These conclusions follow the publication of findings from a preliminary European-only piece of research carried out by IFI Global at the end of last year. It revealed that, although the AIFMD has required European managers to include extra items in their risk reporting, the majority had not been required to make wholesale changes to their systems.
Graeme McArthur, CEO, Crestbridge, says: “There has been some comment on what American managers think about AIFMD, but until now no research has been done on this topic. As a pan-jurisdictional service provider supporting managers in both Europe and the US, we were therefore delighted to sponsor this research and shed some light on the impact of the Directive. Overall, the indications across Europe and the US are that, rather than AIFMD causing a revolution, the changes it is bringing about are part of an ongoing long-term process. Whilst European managers are needing to focus more on risk, governance and reporting, it seems that for many US managers Europe is not a priority and that AIFMD is having relatively little impact.”
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