On May 22nd 2013, the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") approved several Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) entered into by the financial regulators of the European Union (EU) / European Economic Area (EEA) with 34 third-country regulators (including the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, India, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore).
Such MoU enable EU securities regulators and non-EU authorities to supervise cross-border fund managers within the EU and outside. For this purpose, the MoUs provide for the exchange of information between regulators, on-site visits on a cross-border basis and assistance in the enforcement of applicable law.
The existence of MoUs between the EU securities regulator and non-EU authorities is a precondition of the AIFMD for allowing managers based outside the EU to access EU markets or perform fund management services.
Please note that ESMA has negotiated the MoUs centrally pursuant to a mandate given by Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the Member States of the EU. Due to the fact that the MoUs are bilateral agreements that must be signed between each EU securities regulator and the non-EU authorities, such negotiated MoUs will become applicable upon their signature on a case by case basis. The actual supervision of alternative investment fund managers lies with the national securities regulators, therefore each authority decides with which non-EU authorities it will sign an MoU.
Click here to access the complete list of all
the signing 34 regulators can be found
The content of the MoUs will be available soon on ESMA's
website.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
