AMF - Update of the MiFID II guide for asset management companies

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the “AMF”, the French financial markets authority) updated its MiFID II Guide for Asset Management Companies on 6 February 2017, which was published first on 20 April 2016. Its purpose is to assist French management companies in implementing MiFID II measures and key topics, such as: product governance, provision of independent financial advice, client information, suitability and appropriateness of the products or services provided to clients, best execution or post-sale reporting.

The guide now incorporates new provisions of recently published Level 2 MiFID Commission Delegated, such as:

• the funding of research as inducements;
• record-keeping and retention of records; and
• a reminder of the next steps at the European and levels with respect to publications and implementation of MIFID measures.

Read the AMF Guide in French only

AMF - Results from the public consultation on the funding of research

The AMF published its feedback on 9 February 2017 from the public consultation launched in September 2016 on the new provisions on payment for research services used by investment firms providing independent investment advice or portfolio management introduced by MiFID II and its delegated acts that will now fall under the regulated category of inducements.

Further to the comments received, the AMF addresses and provides clarification on the following points:

• extending the new requirements on the provisions of research to investment firms under MiFID II applying to management companies providing individual management and investment advisory services to management companies in connection with their collective management services;
• services covered under the qualification of research and especially the criteria determining whether a service or analysis may be considered as research that can be funded by clients via a research budget, the research budget itself and the allocation by portfolio of the cost of the research received;
• client information about the research budget; and
• the functioning of the research payment accounts and commissions sharing agreements.

Read the AMF feedback in English

AMF Study - ETFs and associated risks

Further to the growth of the exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) market globally and in Europe observed by the French regulator, the AMF published on 14 February 2017 a study entitled “ETFs: characteristics, overview and risk analysis - The case of the French market”.

The AMF analyses the ETFs’ growth consequences on market liquidity and stability and their impact on their underlying assets and markets themselves.

The study provides clarifications and further details on the following topics:

• the definition and characteristics of ETFs;
• the French ETFs market;
• the risks associated with ETFs; and
• the impact of French ETFs on the underlying markets.

Read the AMF news in English

Read the AMF study in English