mr president the aifm directive was the very first piece of legislation that passed my desk after i was elected for the first time eighteen months ago so to see it finally go through plenary this week now that we have finally reached an agreement is actually a relief
the putting in place of a passport regime for alternative investment funds to operate across the entire eu alongside a single rule book governing their operations should be another valuable piece in the creation of a true single market in financial services for europe and should be welcomed by the industry in its current modified form
as a former uk regulated fund manager i now hope that this will soon become the mark of high quality in regulation for investors worldwide as ucits has been in the past and continues to be across the globe
however i hope that everyone who has been involved in this process has learnt some lessons along the way concerning the principles of better regulation
it is clear that this should not be held up as an example of better regulation and given the extensive agenda of financial legislation over the coming months i hope we can avoid a repetition of this inefficient process
