More than one year ago the UK public voted for the UK to leave the EU. With the Article 50 process being triggered in March, the two-year Brexit negotiation process is now well underway. AFME has argued consistently that during the negotiation process, market efficiency and financial stability must be safeguarded. The Brexit negotiations are taking place under significant time pressure with the UK’s membership of the EU due to end on 29 March 2019. Faced with no clarity on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, market participants are having to take important decisions amid considerable uncertainty. In light of this, AFME and others have consistently made the case for transitional arrangements following the Article 50 negotiation period. This note is intended to explain in more detail the importance and necessity of transitional arrangements as well as summarise our views on what such arrangements should look like. While we believe that transitional arrangements are essential, we share the view of the European Council that they must be clearly defined, limited in time, and subject to effective enforcement mechanisms. We also recognise the EU27’s prioritisation of matters to ensure an orderly withdrawal and the core principles set out in the Council Guidelines including the integrity of the single market. We believe that transitional arrangements are necessary to support these objectives of an orderly withdrawal, ensuring financial stability and the prosperity of both the EU27 and the UK. We urge the negotiators to progress with reaching agreement on the items under discussion in phase one of the negotiations in order to be able to move to discussing transitional arrangements as soon as possible.

The report demonstrates the industry's active support for the European Commission’s recent initiatives on infrastructure. These include the recent revision of the infrastructure capital requirements in the context of Solvency II and a potential extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, currently being discussed, which could extend the initial EUR 315bn fund to EUR 500bn for jobs and growth and further leverages private sector investment. You can download a copy of the Guide here and its accompanying press release here. This report is a review of the state of infrastructure financing, investment and related initiatives in Europe, and an assessment of how to further advance and encourage private sector finance for infrastructure projects. The review was undertaken as a follow up to the ‘AFME-ICMA Guide to Infrastructure Financing’ published by the two associations in June 2015. Studies show that a substantial increase on current investment levels in infrastructure is required to support future expected economic growth. Since the financial crisis, institutional investors have substantially increased their investment in infrastructure, but this welcome trend requires further encouragement, which may be achieved via a mix of financial instruments, innovative financing solutions and familiarity with the different risk and return profiles of individual projects. The review highlights some of the measures which could help to generate a positive environment to boost private sector infrastructure investment, including: understanding, structuring and allocating risk, including country-specific risk the importance of coherent and trusted legal frameworks to ensure long-term regulatory and political stability, and the equal treatment of foreign, local and institutional investors developing expertise and standardisation of best practice more and better-quality disclosure of information on infrastructure projects and on ongoing infrastructure debt performance a review of regulation to ensure that investing in infrastructure does not become punitive as against other asset classes The Guide is part of several industry initiatives supporting the European Growth agenda, which include ‘Unlocking funding for European investment and growth’ co-written with Oliver Wyman, ‘Bridging the growth gap’, co-written with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the AFME SME finance guide to support European SMEs ability to raise all types of finance, and the recent reports on‘The shortage of risk capital for Europe’s high-growth businesses’ and ‘Bridging to Brexit: Insights from European SMEs, Corporates and Investors’.

The report presents updated key trends in remuneration in banking and capital markets since the crisis based on a detailed study conducted by McLagan Aon Hewitt of 18 AFME Board member firms.

One year on from the UK’s referendum vote to leave the European Union and with exit negotiations just beginning, AFME has published a new report, Bridging to Brexit: Insights from European SMEs, Corporates and Investors. The report, commissioned from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) with support from Clifford Chance, examines the impact of Brexit on SMEs, large corporates and investors and in particular, on their use of wholesale banking and capital markets services. To assess the potential effects, BCG interviewed 62 end users of wholesale banking services, as well as 10 trade associations. The feedback and insights from these interviews are supported by quotes and real-life case studies which illustrate the potential impacts to their businesses. BCG then presents a quantitative analysis of specific Brexit-related challenges that the banking industry will face in trying to match client expectations identified in the interviews. The findings of this report indicate that a hard Brexit will be a particular challenge for SMEs, but also raises issues for corporates and investors, with wider implications for growth in the real economy. The resulting potential fragmentation creates an even greater need for timely implementation of the Capital Markets Union initiative, of which AFME is a strong supporter. We hope this report will provide helpful feedback for policymakers during the forthcoming discussions on the future relationship between the European Union and the UK. Read the press release here. Please click here to download the summary document Available in.... French German Italian Spanish

To mark the launch of the FX Global Code of Conduct on 25 May 2017, the GFMA’s GlobalFX Division, in conjunction with the Investment Association, the ACI and a number of othertrade bodies, hosted an evening panel session in London with some of the leading figuresbehind the development of the Code. The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) represents the common interests of theworld’s leading financial and capital market participants, and speaks for the industry onthe most important global market issues. The complete FX Global Code of Conduct is a set of global principles of good practice inthe foreign exchange market. It was developed to provide a common set of guidelines topromote the integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale foreign exchange market.It is intended to promote a robust, fair, liquid, open, and appropriately transparent marketin which a diverse set of market participants, supported by resilient infrastructure, are ableto confidently and effectively transact at competitive prices that reflect available marketinformation and in a manner that conforms to acceptable standards of behaviour.The GFMA’s Global FX Division is fully supportive of this initiative. Given that foreignexchange underpins international trade and investing, a single, global code provides acommon reference point to encourage good practice and re-build public confidence in theFX market. The GFMA is pleased to provide the following summary of the panel discussion.

The purpose of the Questionnaire is to provide a standardised set of questions which can be sent from investment firms to entities that may fall under the scope of MiFID II as Trading Venues (MTFs and OTFs). AFME has also published a separate questionnaire1 that can be sent by MiFID II investment firms to European equities exchanges that are in scope of MiFID II - please be aware that some questions may be repeated in this FIC document.This Questionnaire has been developed with FIC products in mind, and has some asset class-specific questions, but may also encapsulate cross-asset considerations and be relevant for other instruments. The Questionnaire is to be sent bilaterally from investment firms to their broker/Trading Venue counterparts. The information provided in response to the Questionnaire to investment firms is strictly confidential and for the benefit of the recipient firm and its affiliates only. Furthermore, the information provided is valid at the point in time when it is provided. The liability regime for the Questionnaire is established by the Disclaimer included in Annex I, which is to be provided by the responding entity. The Questionnaire is made available to any party to use in a Microsoft Excel format. However, in order to maintain the integrity of the document, we ask users to recognise and respect the numbering and wording of all questions.

Following the UK government’s decision to trigger Article 50 last month, AFME has published a new report, Implementing Brexit: practical challenges for wholesale banking in adapting to the new environment. Building on our February study with PwC on operational complexity, this paper seeks to provide EU policymakers with insights on the range of implementation challenges facing wholesale banks, their clients and supervisory authorities. In our latest publication, we have assembled the available evidence to help Europe’s policymakers reach an informed view of the potential challenges in Brexit implementation for wholesale banking and capital markets and how best to mitigate the risks arising to financial stability and market functioning of the two-year timeframe. Click here to read the press release Available in... Spanish French Italian German

Please see attached document.

AFME has published a new report The Shortage of Risk Capital for Europe’s High Growth Businesses. This report was authored by AFME with the support of 12 other European organisations representing various stakeholders involved in risk capital. These include the European Investment Fund (EIF), seven other European trade associations representing businesses (BusinessEurope), business angels (BAE, EBAN), venture capital (InvestEurope), accountants (AccountancyEurope), and crowdfunding (ECN), as well as stock exchanges (FESE, Deutsche Bӧrse, Euronext, London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq). The report also received the support of the European Commission’s Olivier Guersent, Director General at DG FISMA, referenced in the press release, which summarises the key findings of the report. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis gave the keynote presentation at the launch event of the report in Brussels on 7 March. The purpose of the report is to outline the existing sources of risk capital for growing businesses, why shortages occur, and to highlight recommendations for European and national policymakers to improve its supply. The report is part of AFME’s broader growth initiatives and is the fourth in a series of publications focusing on unlocking growth and jobs in Europe. Earlier publications include Bridging the Growth Gap, which highlighted the gaps in equity and debt financing for small and mid-sized companies. This was followed by Raising Finance for Europe’s Small and Medium-sized Businesses, translated in six languages. Our goal is for this report to provide a comprehensive and fact-based analysis to assist policymakers’ discussions on ways to further unlock risk capital for Europe’s small and innovative businesses. Click here to download The European funding escalator and “climbing wall” infographic.