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		MEPs must think again about the AIFMD Saturday, 19th September 2009 From The Blue Blog One can't help but think the so-called Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) is firmly targeted at London where 80% of the EU's hedge funds and 60% of its private equity funds are located. If implemented, this EU Directive would leave London in a severely weakened position to do business. The economic crisis has provided the Christian Democrats and the Socialists with just the excuse they sought to impose more regulations. The European Commission, like Gordon Brown at the G20 summit, has buckled under the pressures of the European Left. Funds that continue to be managed in Europe will be vetted not only by the national regulator but also by the European Commission which will have the power to restrict the level of leverage that may be used by a hedge fund, regardless of the need of the funds' clients. The fact that the Directive aims to impose the same regulations on hedge funds, private equity and venture capital managers, reveals a level of ignorance that leaves the impression of the Commission as an ivory tower of bureaucrats seeking to regulate an industry about which they know very little. The Directive will leave egg on the faces of the French and Germans too. With Brussels tangling up the fund management industry in red tape, business will not charge out of London to relocate in Frankfurt or Paris. It could simply move to Dubai, New York, Shanghai and most easily Switzerland. Conservatives in the European Parliament are working tirelessly to convince Parliamentarians from other Member States to think twice about this regulation. In the Economics & Monetary Affairs Committee, I have highlighted how the proposed directive could reduce the pensions of millions of workers, how venture capital could dry up as non-EU based Venture Capitalists are unable to fund innovation in the EU, and we are warning that struggling companies will fail, jobs will be lost and communities destroyed if private equity and hedge funds are unable to buy and turn around companies.