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The unit’s primary role is to continuously monitor initiatives of an international nature and to inform and advise the AFTI’s Board of Directors and working groups on the issues at stake andwhether to take part in the related discussions by broadcasting AFTI’s official positions.

In 2009 AFTI contributed to 16 public consultations organised by the European Commission (on, among other things, the CESAME 2 process to harmonise European practices on corporate actions), the Committee of European Securities Regulators and the European Central Bank, in the context of the Target 2 Securities project.

AFTI’s international stature was also reflected through the established tradition of holding a meeting of its Board of Directors in Brussels, as well as attendance by Commission representatives at AFTI conferences in Paris and meetings with Members of the European Parliament responsible for issues concerning the association’s remit. The continuing consistency of AFTI’s messages make its views widely recognised and much sought after.

The International Monitoring Unit has also played an active role in organising and formalising the work of the European Trustee and Depositary Forum (ETDF), of which the AFTI is a founding member.

The ETDF aims to serve as a forum for dialogue between associations representing the fund depositary profession. In this regard, 2009 was a particularly eventful year, including a European Commission consultation on the UCITS depositary function, the adoption of Level 2 measures under UCITS IV and a draft directive on alternative investment fund managers. These developments confirmed the need for issues connected to the role of European fund depositaries to be better understood and taken into account. It has thus become increasingly evident each year that the international – and more specifically European – dimension is now a natural component of virtually every initiative and project affecting AFTI’s professions at both a technical and a regulatory level. Ever since it was formed, the association has taken this fact into account and organised itself so as to project its values and positions at an international level. The International Monitoring Unit thus plays a part in one of the AFTI’s key roles and, undoubtedly, one of its main achievements.