The European Commission's new measures to boost plans to promote a single capital market in the region have been welcomed by money manager associations.
The commission on Thursday published a new action plan to boost the European Union's efforts to promote a single capital market under the Capital Markets Union. The project is also crucial to boost the international role of the euro, an EC news release said.
The plan outlines 16 new measures to facilitate the EU's recovery, updating a previous plan with recommendations from a group of industry executives, known as the high-level forum.
Among the new measures are plans to create a single access point to company data for investors; the strengthening of investment protection to support more cross-border investment in the EU; moves to facilitate the monitoring of retirement adequacy across Europe; and a push for progress on a single rule book for financial markets in the region.
Money manager associations largely welcomed the new action plan.
The Alternative Investment Management Association and Alternative Credit Council in a joint statement said their member firms "stand ready to support the European Commission."
However, the statement highlighted that policymakers need to show leadership to deliver on the "ambitious" plan.
"Europe faces the biggest economic shock in living memory and the economic disruption from COVID-19 is still prevalent," AIMA and the ACC said. "The EU needs an urgent response, and further integrating EU capital markets has now become a necessity."
Attracting capital into the EU is necessary to support the economic recovery and maintain the region's future competitiveness, so the CMU action plan should have "openness to global investors" at its heart, the statement added.
Further, AIMA and the ACC said developing market-based lending sources will be crucial to Europe's recovery. Changes to Europe's securitization framework and certain rules "can help unlock greater funding from the capital markets. This will allow non-bank lenders to play a vital role financing the real economy and support a more resilient financial system," the statement said.
A separate statement from the European Fund and Asset Management Association said the new plan "requires a long-term political vision, determination and perseverance."
