Plans for a single European mutual fund market still held back by local regulation, despite Ucits 3

Aspirations for a single European mutual fund market continue to lie just beyond reach despite the latest update to the Ucits legislation, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P). 'European Union law makers have striven for close to 20 years to dismantle national regulatory frameworks that protect domestic fund providers and stifle competition. The latest legislative salvo, in the form of the Ucits 3 Directive, is due to be enacted by member states this year, but like Tantalus, doomed to remain immersed up to his neck in a lake whose level recedes whenever he tries to take a drink, the goal...