Move to curb bonuses for fund managers delayed

European Parliament lawmakers will delay voting on rules to curb fund manager bonuses as they continue to tussle over details of the plans.

Legislators are weighing changes to draft measures approved by the assembly's economic and monetary affairs committee earlier this year that would ban managers of so-called UCITS funds from receiving bonuses worth more than their fixed pay and crack down on performance fees, Sven Giegold, the parliament's lead lawmaker on the dossier, said today in an e-mail.

“We are trying to figure out if a pro-European and cross-party compromise for waterproof consumer-protection rules in the area of managers’ remuneration and performance-fee regulations can be found,” Giegold said. “I asked for the postponement of the debate and vote of the UCITS V dossier in plenary in order to continue political negotiations,” he said. The draft rules for fund managers go beyond planned EU curbs on banker pay that would allow bonuses of twice fixed salary. European asset-management firms are concerned the proposal, which may affect two-thirds of senior fund managers, may cause a bidding war for their best-performing employees, increasing fixed costs and making the industry more vulnerable to market downturns.

The draft law must be approved by the parliament and by national governments before it can take effect. UCITS, or Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, had more than €6 trillion under management as of April 2012, according to the European Commission. Ireland is one of the largest domiciles for UCITS funds, which are regulated at EU level and have the right to operate throughout the 27-nation bloc if they meet minimum oversight and investor-protection standards.

The assembly will settle its stance on the draft law by its August recess, Giegold said.

Bloomberg