Risk Management under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive

Abstract

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive was published by the European Commission on the 21st of July 2011 and implemented by the fund managers on the 22nd of July 2013. The main goal of the Directive was to create a common harmonized supervisory framework across the EU Member States over the Alternative Investment Fund Managers in order to stabilize the financial sector after the recent financial crisis by focusing on several main factors. The major concern of the regulators were the micro and macro prudential risks that the alternative investment funds pose to the stability of the financial markets in the EU but as well focusing on the investor protection and market efficiency. As such, the main purpose of this research is to analyze the objectives and the impact of the AIFM Directive over the fund managers and fund industry while challenging the consistency of the risk management requirements imposed by the regulation. The results of this research will show that the theoretical framework does not always coincide with the reality. The regulation has brought a higher market efficiency with an opportunity cost over the fund managers who have to face the unexpectedly high compliance costs in order to market their funds in the EU Member States. The practical part of this research will also show that there are several drawbacks in the regulation by allowing the fund managers to implement their own risk management methodologies.