Recital 1

(1)In accordance with Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ² , the Commission has reviewed the application and the scope of that Directive and concluded that the objectives of integrating the Union market for alternative investment funds (AIFs), ensuring a high level of investor protection and protecting financial stability have, for the most part, been met. However, in its review the Commission also concluded that there is a need to harmonise the rules for the managers of alternative investment funds (AIFMs) managing AIFs which originate loans, as well as a need to clarify the standards applicable to AIFMs that delegate their functions to third parties, to ensure equal treatment of entities providing custody services (‘custodians’), to improve cross-border access to depositary services, to optimise supervisory data collection and to facilitate the use of liquidity management tools across the Union. Therefore, amendments are necessary to address those needs in order to improve the functioning of Directive 2011/61/EU.