Europe
Need for a Single Market
Fidelity International is one of the leading cross-border fund providers in Europe and has a growing presence throughout Europe including offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna and Zurich.
The European asset management industry is well equipped to play an active part in contributing to the goals set out in the Lisbon Agenda. In managing investors' assets, the industry plays a vital macroeconomic role in the EU. It allocates capital to investments with good return prospects, facilitating growth and jobs.
Individual households are also increasingly dependent on long-term savings products to provide them with an adequate income in retirement. Retail investment funds have an important role to play here. However, despite some excellent progress in , the investment funds market remains heavily fragmented along national lines. This prevents firms from achieving real economies of scale which could be translated into big improvements in products and services for investors.
Fidelity's engagement at EU level
We have been actively engaging with the European Commission for a number of years to help bring about a genuine single market for investment funds in .
In 2003, Fidelity was one of a group of companies that, under the auspices of the Investment Management Association ( ), sponsored a major research project into the European Investment industry - the Heinemann Report[1] [http://www.investmentuk.org/news/research/2004/topic/european/Heinemannpaper.pdf]. We then participated in the European Commission's Asset Management Working Group, one of four industry groups that met over a four-month period in 2004 to advise the Commission on what needed to be done to follow up progress achieved under the Financial Services Action Plan.
Green Paper on Enhancement of EU Framework for Investment Funds (2005)
The Commission published its Green Paper on Asset Management in 2005; the European Parliament responded to the Green Paper in March 2006 with a report drafted by Wolf Klinz MEP.
The Expert Group Report on Investment Fund Market Efficiency (2006)
In July 2006, a second Expert Group published its report to the European Commission setting out further recommendations for harnessing the full potential of an integrated single market for investment funds.
We supported the main recommendations; including reducing administrative delays in getting investment funds to market. Obtaining authorisation in a home member state can be a lengthy process followed by additional delays and costs in notifying host member states. Reducing these delays is vital to achieving a real single market for investment funds.
White Paper on Enhancing Single Market Framework for Investment Funds (2006)
The European Commission published a White Paper in November 2006 setting out its views on enhancing the single market framework for investment funds. The Commission gave effect to the White Paper by publishing an Exposure Draft in March 2007 setting out possible adjustments to the UCITS Directive.
We look forward to publication of a concrete legislative proposal from the Commission to drive forward improvements in the EU framework for retail investment funds - UCITS framework. This is expected to be published in February 2008.
More information can be found on the Commission's website[1] Fidelity is not responsible for the content of external websites.
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