Speaking at the Investment Association's annual dinner on Wednesday (11 October), chair Ashley Alder laid out the regulator's three main priorities for reform on the back of feedback received on its discussion paper for a post-Brexit UK asset management regime.
These include making the regime for alternative fund managers more proportionate, updating the regime for retail funds and supporting technological innovation.
For alternative fund managers, the chair said the FCA had received calls from the industry to retain the core framework of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), while making it more proportionate and tailored to the UK market.
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Alder said industry members had pointed to practical issues caused by the full AIFMD regime only applying to firms above a threshold of assets under management. Instead, the FCA will aim to use a set of "consistent rules" across all managers of alternative funds.
"Rather than having two different categories of manager and applying different rules to each, we would ensure the regime operates proportionately depending on the nature and scale of a firm's business," he said.
"So, we will work with the Treasury to explore how to make regulation work far better for small registered, small authorised and full scope managers."
The regulator is also considering modifications to the AIFMD to enable full-scope alternative fund managers to carry out other activities within the same legal area, as well as easing some reporting requirements.
Retail funds and tokenisation
Respondents also called for a clearer distinction between the requirements the FCA applies to managers of authorised retail funds and managers of alternative investment funds. This would simplify the retail rules for non-UCITS funds, Alder said.
There was also feedback on whether non-UCITS funds might be rebranded to help rationalise the regime, and, if so, how best to do this. In response, the chair said the regulator will continue to explore this option and "welcome further dialogue" on branding options.
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On innovation, the FCA said it had been working with the technology working group, which sits under the Treasury's asset management taskforce, to develop a blueprint for fund tokenisation to be published later this year.
The regulator has also been working on a Direct2Fund proposal that would make the UK fund dealing model and interactions with investors "far more efficient".
"We of course want a regime that sets and tests high standards. Because the industry is global, we want our rules to interact effectively with the requirements that firms are subject to in other jurisdictions," Alder said.
"As I indicated earlier, we do not want to create unnecessary complexity for firms which operate internationally."
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Alder also acknowledged the asset management sector's role in funnelling retail savings into productive investments in the UK, noting the FCA is also pursuing reforms in this area, such as allowing a degree of retail access to Long Term Asset Funds, or proposals to amend the listing rules.
If pursued, he said these would shift the emphasis from "ex-ante shareholder protections" to a "far greater reliance" on continuing disclosure by listed companies quoted on a single market segment.
"I do want to flag that all these initiatives highlight tough issues about societal tolerance of risk," he said. "Nikhil [Rathi] has spoken very eloquently about this, which flows into sensitive debates about the scope of redress when things go wrong with riskier investments."