An alternative fund regime for Germany?

In response to concerns highlighted by the financial crisis, the EU Commission is working on an ambitious programme of regulatory reform designed to ensure that financial markets are secure and reliable and that all participants in these markets operate responsibly. The reforms are intended to fill gaps in areas in which European or national regulation is considered insufficient or incomplete. One of such gaps is seen in the oversight and supervision of management activities of alternative investment funds, or funds which are presently not harmonised under the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (Ucits) – directive including, inter alia, private equity, mezzanine, infrastructure and real estate funds.

In Germany at least four different regulatory regimes may apply to funds set up in Germany. The following article discusses to what extent harmonised EU-fund regulation could be an opportunity for Germany in light of its widely diversified and in part inconsistent...