Some fund managers in Europe could be caught by unexpectedly strict pay curbs when the first EU attempt to regulate the hedge fund and private equity industry becomes a reality next year.
There is increasing industry alarm that draft guidance on how to implement the law could see restrictions such as bonus deferrals and clawbacks – which are already enforced in the banking sector – imposed on a wider range of big funds than first thought.
These measures, which if strictly enforced would overhaul the sector’s prevailing pay practices, are included in the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), a highly contentious EU law that must be enforced by July 2013.