MiFID impact on investment managers
| Pages | 90-98 |
| Date | 27 February 2007 |
| Published date | 27 February 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13581980710726804 |
| Author | Stéphane Janin |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
MiFID impact on investment
managers
Ste
´phane Janin
AFG (French Investment Fund and Asset Management Association),
Paris, France
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the Markets in Financial Instruments
Directive (MiFID) on investment managers but also on funds’ units as financial instruments.
Design/methodology/approach – Starting from the innovative legislative structure and scope of
the MiFID, the paper assesses the way investment managers and funds’units are impacted, knowing
that investment managers and funds’units are already largely tackled by another Directive, the UCITS
Directive.
Findings – In spite of increasing many organizational and process requirements within investment
management companies, the MiFID will probably not create dramatic changes in the daily functioning
of those companies. However, the linkage between the provisions of the MiFID and the UCITS
Directive has not been clearly made by European legislative institutions, which leaves uncertainties in
the way the national legislators and regulators will transpose the MiFID in order to get the best
consistence between this Directive and the UCITS one.
Research limitations/implications – Final assessment should be made once Member States have
transposed the MiFID Directive and have enforced it in practice.
Originality/value – The value of the paper is to set a bridge between two different directives (the
MiFID on the one hand, the UCITS Directive on the other hand) which both impact investment
managers and funds’ units.
Keywords Investment,Investment funds, Portfolio investment,Financial management
Paper type Research paper
Until very recently many European investment managers – i.e. entities in charge of
managing collective investment funds – considered that the European legislative
framework was mainly based on the so-called “Undertakings for Collective Investment
in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive”[1]. This Directive was aimed at
ensuring that a specific type of collective investment fund, the so-called UCITS
(for “Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities”) could be
passported without nearly no regulatory barriers across borders within the all
European Union, as soon as the players (mainly the management companies,
complemented by depositaries) would fulfill a set of conditions in terms of organization
and functioning and as soon as the pattern of the funds themselves would comply with
certain conditions as well. The original UCITS Directive was adopted in 1985 and
amended in 2001 – in order to be upgraded to keep pace with financial product
innovation and new business patterns. These amendments to the 1985 Directive were
published in 2002[2] and were transposed afterwards by Member States.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1358-1988.htm
Ste
´phane Janin is the Head of International Affairs Division, AFG (French Asset Management
Association). The views expressed are only those of the author and do not commit AFG in
any way.
JFRC
15,1
90
Journal of Financial Regulation and
Compliance
Vol. 15 No. 1, 2007
pp. 90-98
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1358-1988
DOI 10.1108/13581980710726804
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