'Door closed' on PRIIPs transaction cost redraft as delay debate looms

Despite protests from industry

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) failed to acknowledge widespread industry calls for a revision to the calculation of fund transaction costs in PRIIPs Key Information Documents (KIDs) in a speech this week, with just a fortnight remaining until the European Commission's crucial vote on whether to delay the controversial legislation.

In a speech made earlier this month, Verena Ross, executive director of ESMA, the body responsible for redrafting the PRIIPs regulatory technical standards (RTS), made no reference to the recalculation of PRIIPs transaction costs, despite calls for changes by various industry bodies. The current PRIIPs methodology has previously being described as "completely arbitrary" by the Investment Association and "improper" by the European Fund and Asset Management Association. Instead, Ross said the concerns raised by European Parliament's (EP) ECON committee in September around the directive'...