ESMA Publishes Final Remuneration Guidelines under UCITS and AIFMD

On 31 March 2016, following its consultation on draft guidelines in summer last year, ESMA published its final report and guidelines on sound remuneration policies under the UCITS Directive and the AIFMD.  The final guidelines principally establish remuneration guidelines for management companies of UCITS funds but also include an amendment to the existing AIFMD remuneration guidelines. Whilst they bring a certain degree of long-awaited certainty to management companies of UCITS funds, the final guidelines are not without their ambiguities, particularly in respect of how the proportionality principle should be applied in practice and how to navigate the increasingly complex web of remuneration rules and guidelines deriving from different sectors.