The European Commission has backed away from overhauling Ucits III, which governs European cross-border fund sales, and said the €5 trillion ($6 trillion) market was eclipsed by that of the US.

In a green paper to enhance investment in cross-border funds, published last week, it said European funds were on average five times smaller than their US peers. As a result, it has established working groups to look at difficulties faced by fund managers in using EU legislation to allow them to sell funds outside their home market.