On October 11, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the text of a speech made by its chairman, Steven Maijoor, to the European Parliament on ESMA’s work on the application of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) passport to non-EU AIFMs and AIFs. In this latest update on the proposed extension of the AIFMD marketing passport, Mr. Maijoor recapped ESMA’s initial advice published in July 2015 on extending the AIFMD passport (in relation to Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, Switzerland, Singapore and the United States), and a second advice published in July 2016 (covering 12 non-EU countries). Mr. Maijoor confirmed that ESMA’s next three key areas of focus for the AIFMD passport are: 1) continuing its assessment of whether to extend the passport to Bermuda and Cayman Islands; 2) starting an assessment of a third group of non-EU countries; and 3) implementing an “extensive framework” for extending the passport to non-EU countries, including strengthening supervisory cooperation and ESMA’s role in the passporting system.

For more information, see our articles from July 22, 2016, January 22, 2016, October 16, 2015 and July 31, 2015.