The European Securities and Markets Authority will take charge of negotiating regulatory co-operation agreements with non-European Union countries required by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, but the national regulators of EU member states will have to sign such agreements themselves.
Esma announced on Thursday, April 26, that it would begin discussions with the non-EU regulators of entities outside the union that are subject to the requirements of the directive regarding supervisory co-operation issues.
The move follows agreement by Esma’s board of supervisors – made up of the heads of the EU’s 27 national financial regulators – to follow a common policy regarding the co-operation arrangements required under the AIFM Directive that should be in place between EU and non-EU securities supervisors by July 2013.
Esma says it will take the lead on the negotiation of co-operation arrangements with non-EU authorities on behalf of EU regulators through a common Memorandum of Understanding.
This will facilitate the cross-border supervision of entities subject to AIFMD including managers of alternative investment funds, depositaries and entities performing tasks under delegation by the manager. The MoU will be based on the Principles Regarding Cross-Border Supervisory Co-operation published by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) in May 2010.
While Esma will negotiate on behalf of all EU financial regulators, the final signature of individual MoUs with non-EU authorities will be the responsibility of each EU national regulator.
Esma says its co-ordination of the negotiation process should allow both EU and non-EU regulators to put in place consistent co-operation arrangements for the AIFM Directive “in an efficient and timely fashion”.