The Dutch Parliament has approved a law that implements the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). 

The Netherlands is the first European country to implement this new piece of regulation created to limit risks for investors in those alternative investment funds.

According to a KPMG survey, the Netherlands is now among the top-rated countries as potential business location for asset managers and their funds.

The AIFMD deals with stricter EU regulation on alternative investment fund managers offering alternative investment funds, ranging from hedge and private equity fund products to real estate investment funds.

The fast implementation is the result of a coordinated effort of the Ministry of Finance, the Dutch regulator AFM and market participants.  A tailor made AIFMD sounding board supported the Ministry in the implementation process.

KPMG’s partner Marco Frikkee says: “Dutch based asset managers– with use of the new set of legislation - could optimally use easing tax rules to reduce unnecessary costs inherent to existing tax and legal structures. With the current financial infrastructure it is expected that the Netherlands is able to attract some of the asset managers to bring business over from their current offshore locations.”