More than a quarter (28 percent) of fund managers and consultants surveyed at a Northern Trust seminar on regulation said they believed investors in funds are now demanding products fully compliant with new regulations.
“Investment managers launching new products are now seeing an increasing demand from investors for a combination of traditional offshore and fully regulated products,” said Ian Headon, head of Depositary Regulatory and Technical Services at Northern Trust. “This is a gradual, incremental change in investor behavior and will have a significant impact on the evolution of fund managers’ product offerings – regulation is here to stay, but this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
However, whilst the survey demonstrated an increased demand for compliant products, the majority of respondents (65 percent) still believed their investors viewed the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (AIFMD) as primarily a compliance exercise, despite the fact that AIFMD implementation is almost complete.
“The regulatory landscape continues to evolve and as AIFMD implementation nears completion, the industry is faced with a new wave of regulation,” said Robert Angel, head of Regulatory Services for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Northern Trust. “The successful managers will be the ones that break away from the pack and get ahead of the regulatory trends. We provide our clients with regular insights on the latest industry developments and the opportunities that regulation creates, helping to ensure clients can remain ahead of the curve.”
Northern Trust’s Global Fund Services business provides custody, fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, and ETF solutions to investment managers across the globe and across the spectrum of asset classes. Northern Trust offers depositary services in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Guernsey.
Northern Trust Corporation is a provider of asset servicing, fund administration, asset management, fiduciary, and banking solutions for corporations, institutions, families, and individuals worldwide. Chicago-based Northern Trust has offices in 19 states, Washington, D.C., and 20 international locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of September 30, 2014, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$5.9 trillion, and assets under investment management of US$923.3 billion.