Report on Future of Regulatory Reform of Asset Management in the EU

ComRes, in collaboration with Cicero Consulting, have published a report investigating MEPs' views towards regulation of the asset management industry across the EU.

Date Published: 04 Jan 2012

Categories: Economy | Europe | Financial Services | Policy Makers

Description

Report on Future of Regulatory Reform of Asset Management in the EU

ComRes, in collaboration with Cicero Consulting, have published a new report investigating MEPs' views towards regulation of the asset management industry across the EU.

MEPs will play a critical role in shaping the regulatory approach to financial services in the EU, including asset management and understanding their views is therefore imperative to successfully comprehending the political opinion landscape and reacting to it effectively.

With this in mind, ComRes and Cicero Consulting asked MEPs their opinions using ComRes's omnibus survey of Members of the European Parliament. A representative sample of 101 MEPs took part in the survey and the key findings show that:

• Majority of MEPs consider banning of overly risky or complex financial products (57%) and introducing stricter obligations on financial institutions that accept deposits (54%) the most important aspects of EU asset management regulations
• A safer environment for investors due to enhanced cross-border cooperation between supervisory bodies is most widely considered as a likely consequence of regulatory reform of asset management in the EU (54% of MEPs think this is very likely/likely). It is closely followed by increased awareness among asset managers of the nature of their potential clients, i.e. investors (53%)
• According to 53% of MEPs asset management is most likely to be improved by increasing transparency as part of the MiFID Directive revision, thus leading to more streamlined markets and a reduction in costs for investors
• 41% of MEPs believe that the creation of a harmonised and consistent market for investors, as part of revisions of the Directive on PRIPs, will improve asset management
• Looking at the single European market for pension funds, removing taxes on cross-border transfers for pension capital is most widely seen as a way to improve the pension funds market (49% of MEPs believe so).
 

Methodology: ComRes surveyed 101 MEPs on the ComRes EuropollTM MEP panel between 23rd May and 25th July 2011 by self-completion postal questionnaire and online. Data were weighted to reflect the exact composition of the European Parliament. ComRes follows the ESOMAR Code of Conduct (www.esomar.org).