On Monday 24 September, the members of the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament adopted, by very large majority, the two draft reports by MEP Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany) that make up the 'investment firms' legislative package (see EUROPE 11930).
The proposed directive on the prudential supervision of investment funds was adopted by 35 votes to 9 and the proposed regulation on the prudential requirements applicable to them 33 votes to 8.
As detailed in EUROPE 12101, the MEPs kept the key element of the new framework, namely the classification of investment firms into three categories on the basis of their size, nature and complexity, so that proportionate prudential and supervisory requirements can be applied to them.
However, they also made the move between categories two (non-systemic investment firms with a gross total turnover above €30 million) and three (non-systemic investment firms below that threshold) easier and more predictable, for instance by extending the period during which the threshold must have been exceeded before moving to the category above.
In terms of transparency, the final text also calls upon asset managers to make public the companies in which they own more than 5% of the capital and how they vote in the general meetings.
It is worth noting that the oral amendment tabled by the Greens/EFA - aiming to disclose the number and dates of all meetings of investors taking place between any representative of a subsidiary and members of the Board of Directors or Supervisory Board and a description of the questions discussed - give rise to an objection, to the great disappointment of German MEP Sven Giegold.
The MEPs also tightened up the equivalence rules for third-country investment firms, including British firms. “More than half of all European investment firms come from the United Kingdom and will soon be from a third country. With the new set of rules, we will make sure that those British firms (…) remain subject to the EU regime and will have to set up camp in the EU if they want to perform certain services”, Ferber explained in a press release.
Inter-institutional negotiations may start as soon as the member states have also reached their position. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)