Wags have predicted consolidation fever in the asset management space for a good half-decade, but few seem to have looked back at whether history followed the tarot cards.
For those asset managers’ legal and compliance teams who breathed a sigh of relief in January when MiFID II was implemented, the next items on the UK regulatory change agenda probably include the Financial Conduct Authority’s Asset Management Market Study (AMMS), the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) and responding to Brexit.
The European funds industry, like the rest of the financial services industry and indeed many other industries, is awaiting a clear path forward in the post-Brexit environment.
The UK’s residential income investment market is changing rapidly with increased political focus, leasehold reform, new entrants and insatiable housing demand.
Few in financial services will have missed the advent of MiFID II. So intense was the interest, it would have been easy to overlook the EU Benchmarks Regulation, which will also have significant implications for the buy-side in 2018.
The European Union’s focus on investor protection, especially in the retail market, deserves strong support and encouragement.
