Pouring Old Wine into New Skins?: UCITS and Asset Management in the EU after MiFID (Centre for European Policy Studies)

Asset management has quickly become one of the European Commission's key points on the post- Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) agenda. The combination of Europe's demographic decline and the poor state of public finances means that asset management will play an increasingly important role in securing retirement income for the masses, as well as in channeling personal savings to productive investments. At the same time, the internal market for asset management is a project still very much under construction. While the commission's work has largely focused on supply-side considerations with a view to improving overall market integration and efficiency, this report tackles some key demand-side issues. The authors take a longer-term approach to the critical challenges that will arise following release of the European Commission's White Paper in the fall of 2006.