16/02/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

Aima criticises Spain's "protectionist" AIFM redraft

The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima) has heaped further criticism on Spain’s version of the Alternative Investment Fund Management (AIFM) Directive, calling its third-country marketing provisions “protectionist”.
 
In a statement released today, Aima warned that council president Spain’s decision to reinstate Article 35 – a provision potentially preventing EU investors accessing non-EU funds and managers and that had been deleted by the Swedish presidency – as part of its redrafting could “hit” asset managers and investors across the globe.
 
“Stipulating that these co-operation arrangements must be in place sounds reasonable enough but we are worried that they would be difficult to establish and to comply with,” said Andrew Baker, Aima’s chief executive. “The practical consequence would be that the EU market would be closed to non-EU funds and managers with obvious protectionist implications.”
 
The accusation of protectionism was one of the first, and most impassioned, to be levelled at the Directive upon its release in April 2009. The removal of article 35, and other protectionist elements, during Sweden’s tenure, were seen as a major step forward for the alternatives industry.
 
The new text is being debated by the AIFMD Council Working Group in Brussels this month.