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Portugal is promoted in London as a destination for asset managers

Portugal will be promoted on Monday in London as a “destination for UK investment managers” wishing to open subsidiaries in the European Union and continue to have access to the single market after leaving the UK from the EU.

The action at the Portuguese embassy in the British capital is coordinated by Portugal In mission, the working group created to attract British investment following Brexit and AICEP, and will feature speakers from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) and the Portuguese Association of Investment Funds, Pensions and Assets (APFIPP).

The event is the first joint venture abroad by the BoP and the CMVM and will release the “welcome” guide issued in September by the two regulators to simplify the authorization and registration of collective investment management entities in Portugal and place the country on the radar of investors in post-‘Brexit ‘.

Within the framework of the “Portugal – Destination for Financial Institutions for Asset Management – Launching of New Simplification Measures” initiative, the CMVM and the BdP will have shared e-mail addresses to facilitate registration, which can be done entirely in English. each of the regulators monitoring teams for each process.

The document also defines a maximum of six months for the process to be complete: the BoP has up to three months to issue an authorization, which is followed up to three months for the registration, done simultaneously by the CMVM, which ensures completion in six months.

By investing in stocks, bonds or other assets such as real estate, asset managers offer experience and economies of scale that is not normally available to individual investors.

According to the association, The Investment Association, the UK fund management industry is the largest in the world except for the US, accounting for about 9.1 billion dollars at the end of 2017 (€ 10.22 billion) and 38 thousand jobs.

“Brexit raises a number of challenges for the industry, from immediate regulatory issues like the passport of funds to operational issues, including access to talent and data sharing,” the association acknowledged in a report released in September.

The UK Exit Agreement of the European Union provides for the UK financial services industry a system of access to the EU single market known as equivalence, through which regulatory and supervisory regimes are recognized by both parties, and of which already benefit the US and Japan.

However, it covers only a limited range of activities and does not provide concessions intended by London for preferential and broader access, so many UK companies are choosing to open a subsidiary in the EU to continue to have access to the single market.

A spokesman for The Investment Association told that it is up to each individual member to make contingency plans and was unable to tell how many of the members have opened or are planning to open offices in one of the 27 other EU member states.

However, the association’s report states that several have confirmed that it has opened in Europe or a subsidiary recognized as a Collective Investment Scheme in Securities or an entity regulated by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

A study by consultancy KPMG released in November indicated that 40% of the UK asset managers who responded to an inquiry already had plans to implement relocation plans because of Brexit.

Impax Asset Management said on Thursday it was in “advanced negotiations” with the Bank of Ireland to open a UK subsidiary, similar to other asset managers such as Aberdeen Standard Investments, JP Morgan and Legal & General Investment Management, said Investment Week.

A study of the attractiveness of Portugal by Ernst & Young to foreign investors made in 2017, the banking, insurance and asset management sector is in ninth place in the table of the main engines of the economy, far behind sectors such as information technologies, tourism, real estate or consumer goods.

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