European Capital Markets

The EU’s capital markets are constrained by overlapping and increasingly complex regulatory requirements. MFA supports a simpler, more proportionate framework that maintains high standards while tailoring regulation to actual risk. Additionally, regulators should avoid bank-style requirements that are inappropriate for alternative asset managers and do not reflect their risk or how they operate. A more proportionate framework can encourage greater investment and reduce unnecessary barriers to growth.

EU reporting requirements are fragmented, requiring managers to report the same information under multiple regimes, in different formats, and to separate national authorities. MFA supports a more coordinated model built around common definitions, formats, and greater reuse of regulatory data. This would improve consistency across the Single Market, give regulators more useful information, and reduce unnecessary compliance costs ultimately borne by investors.

Efficient markets depend on competition, investor choice in how and where trades are executed, and access to timely, accurate, and reasonably priced market data. MFA supports reforms that preserve execution choice and make market-data pricing simpler and more transparent so investors can access and use the information they need.

European pension funds and other institutional investors benefit from access to a broad range of managers and investment strategies, wherever they are based. That access depends in part on long-standing arrangements that allow funds to benefit from investment expertise from outside the EU and allow non-EU funds to be offered to professional investors across Member States. MFA supports preserving those routes and opposes extending EU requirements to non-EU firms in ways that restrict investor choice without improving investor protection.