July 10, 2013 - In a quick poll of investment management firms published by Investit last week, 67% said that they felt only fairly prepared and informed to be deemed AIFM compliant in the near future, and a further 17% said they were unprepared. Only 16% of firms felt ready for day one of the directive.

It is unsurprising that investment managers are feeling unprepared given that the regulation is still being finalised despite the implementation date being the 22 July 2013. The biggest topics that are the last to be defined include remuneration and the technical details of reporting.

The one-year AIFMD transition period is being used by 64% of investment managers to have more time to prepare and 18% are also justifying using the transition period to avoid 'early and unnecessary' depository costs.

Investit has been working with firms to design their regulatory change programmes in order to minimise the impacts on the business. Sarah-Jane Dennis, Principal at Investit said, "Considering the proposed implementation is fast approaching, we are seeing investment managers making judgement calls on what the regulation has yet to define; second guessing the regulators is becoming a compliance risk in itself. Investment managers feel they are prepared as they can be without running projects which might turn out to be unnecessary."