AMAFI continues to discuss the interpretation of rules on costs and charges disclosures, working in conjunction with other stakeholders, including market authorities (AMF and ESMA), its sister organisations in Europe and other professional associations at home. AMAFI and a number of other French associations also co-wrote a letter to ESMA underlining the need to involve the industry in the authority’s discussions on Level 3 measures.
AMAFI is in the process of drafting a guide to implementing product governance requirements. At this stage, the guide offers a summary of the rules and regulations, proposed criteria for determining the target market plus a contractual document to make it easier to negotiate the agreements that need to be established between manufacturers and distributors.
At the same time, AMAFI is crafting a response to the consultation launched by ESMA in early October on its proposed product governance guidelines. While the proposals are in line with work done by the AMF in partnership with the Paris industry, AMAFI intends to keep a close watch on several points, including proportionate application of provisions that reflects the nature of the products and services provided, the possibility of maintaining hedging solutions and portfolio diversification practices, and appropriate application to wholesale markets. Feedback must be submitted by 5 January 2017.
Work begun early in the year on clarifying the territorial reach of certain provisions of the MiFID 2 Directive and Regulation, and particularly how these provisions apply to the branches of investment firms located outside the European Union, is now drawing to a close. The note describing the legislative analysis conducted for each subject and the information presented in support of the proposed position are set to be published by the year’s end.
