EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association, has elected Alexander Schindler with unanimity of votes as President for a two-year term (until June 2017). The election took place during EFAMA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lisbon last Friday, 19th June.
At the same meeting, EFAMA Members also unanimously elected William Nott, the Chief Executive Officer of M&G Securities, as its Vice-President (for the same two-year term) and a new Board of Directors for a two-year term.
Alexander Schindler, who served as Vice-President of EFAMA from June 2013, will succeed Christian Dargnat, who has been President since 2013. Alexander Schindler was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of EFAMA in May 2012 and as a member of the management committee of the Board of Directors of EFAMA in June 2012. He became a member of the Executive Boardof Union Investment in January 2004 and was appointed Vice-President of EFAMA in 2013. Alexander has also been a member of the Board of Directors of BEA Union Investment Management Limited, Hong Kong since 2007. He is a qualified banker and lawyer.
The new Vice President, William Nott, is Chief Executive of M&G Securities, the combined Retail Business covering the UK, Europe and Asia, a post he has held since March 2006. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of M&G International, overseeing the development of M&G’s fund distribution into Europe.
Will has served as a member of the Board of Directors of EFAMA for six years and has been on the board of the UK’s Investment Association since 2007. He has been a member of the Consultative Working Group of the European Securities and Markets Authority‘s Investment Management Standing Committee, having previously served as a member of CESR Consultative Working Group on Asset Management.
In his inaugural address as President of EFAMA, Alexander Schindlersaid: “I want to thank our Members and Board for giving me the opportunity of presiding such a widely respected and influential industry body as EFAMA.
Having been involved in this association for three years, I am a strong admirer of the work that my predecessors have conducted, and most recently what has been achieved under Christian Dargnat’s mandate during a particularly defining time for the European asset management industry. The far reaching EU agenda, after the renewal of the mandates of both the European Parliament and European Commission last year, presents both a challenge and an opportunity for our industry and its role in the long-term growth and financing debate. I am very proud to get the chance to build on the strong progress and constructive dialogue process Christian and the EFAMA team have put in place for the past two years.
EFAMA is the voice of the asset management industry and strives to be considered as a valuable and reliable partner for legislators, regulators and market stakeholders. With our new Vice-President William Nott and the crucial support of all of our members, we will make sure this keeps being the case, and will continue our work with the European institutions to ensure that the legislative measures and long term goals that they formulate benefit the end-investor, industry and economy.”
As the representative association for the European investment management industry, EFAMA and its newly appointed Presidency are committed to an agenda that protects the investor and communicates on the crucial role asset managers can play in the financing of the economy. Their overarching priority themes for the next two years are:
- To continue to rebuild investor confidence, promote investor education, and support investor-centric legislation;
- To promote market-based financing of the economy and actively help build up a well-functioning Capital Markets Union;
- To foster a regulatory level playing field for investment products in the EU;
- To help develop an EU-wide personal pension product and a true single market for personal pensions as a solution for the current savings and long-term financing gaps in Europe;
- To strengthen the competitiveness of the industry in terms of cost and quality;
- To promote the asset management industry and increase global recognition of the UCITS and AIF brand on a European and worldwide level.