Majority Of Investment Managers Unprepared For AIFMD Day One

Only 16% of investment management firms feel ready for the first day of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), according to a poll by Investit. The poll found that 67% felt only fairly prepared and informed to be deemed AIFM compliant in the near future, and 17% were unprepared.

The regulation is still being finalized less than two weeks before the implementation date of July 22, with the biggest topics, such as remuneration and the technical details of reporting, yet to be defined. With this uncertainty in mind, 64% of investment managers plan on using the one-year transition period, while 18% will use the transition period to avoid unnecessary depository costs.

Sarah-Jane Dennis, principal at Investit, said: “Considering the proposed implementation is fast approaching, we are seeing investment managers making judgment calls on what the regulation has yet to define; second-guessing the regulators is becoming a compliance risk in itself. Investment managers feel they are [as] prepared as they can be without running projects which might turn out to be unnecessary.”