At the end of January I submitted 18 amendments to the European Commission’s proposals for the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. I am informed that the number of amendments put down by MEPs will be a European Parliament record, with around 1,230 amendments tabled, and the number rising as the secretariat go through the tabled amendments and try to make sense of them.

My amendments focused on four main areas: 1) ensuring that investment trusts, which have operated for over 100 years and do not present systemic risk, are not needlessly regulated out of existence by the new law; 2) that European fund managers are not prevented from providing services outside of the EU; 3) that there are extra protections for investors by clarifying the split between depositories and fund managers; and 4) developing the concept of proportionality so that smaller funds are not overly burdened by red-tape and restrictions.

The ECON committee will begin the debate over which amendments will be included in the final parliamentary report with the rapporteur Jean-Paul Gauzès (pictured above) on 23rd February. With so many amendments to discuss, it could be a long process.