Much attention has focused on access to the EU single market requiring acceptance of free movement of people but, in two important areas of the financial services sector, this is not the case.
The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive permits fund managers from outside the EU to opt-in to the regulatory regime under the Directive in order to market their funds to EU investors and to manage EU funds, either on a cross-border basis or via the establishment of branches in the EU. ‘Third country’ fund managers thus benefit from passporting rights and do not need to establish a presence in the EU in order to do so.