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EU finance ministers have reached an agreement to ease regulations for pan-European mutual funds, making it possible to invest in a wide range of modern financial instruments. The draft directive has been welcomed by the fund-management industry as a small but crucial step towards creating a European market for financial services. The agreement reached at the meeting on Tuesday paves the way for the council of finance ministers and the parliament to quickly agree on a final version of the directive. The directive governs Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (Ucits), mutual funds licensed to be sold across EU borders and subject to EU legislation. While many of these funds are not actually sold across borders, they represent the largest portion of mutual funds in the rapidly growing EU market and held assets worth approximately €3 trillion ($2.56 trillion) at the beginning of the year.
Tuesday, 17 October, 2000