Germany is set to be the next European country to adopt its own version of the GIPS framework. Reactions to the GIPS proposals have been positive, leading to discussions concerning the performance recommendations taking place between a national committee, comprising the country's largest banking and investment corporations. This committee has approved the GIPS blueprint with slight local deviations.

As Jörgen Dettring of WM Company in Frankfurt explains: The general feeling is that these standards are needed, both to promote transparency in the investment market and to follow the lead of the Swiss in Europe. I am sure a framework similar to GIPS will be applicable in Germany in the very near future."

In the Netherlands, local performance standards closely resembling the GIPS blueprint have been applicable since 1 January. However, some Dutch firms have experienced problems in producing management performance records to satisfy the GIPS criteria, due to a lack of any previous applicable standards.

According to Ad van den Ouweland of the Dutch PGGM pension fund, "the number of companies participating within the framework since our standards became effective reflects the increasing Dutch desire for both ethical and uniform performance presention in this area."

The first investment management market in Europe to bring its performance standards into line with the AIMR proposals was Switzerland. The Swiss market has wholeheartedly embraced the GIPS standards framework since its application on 1 January 1997, with around 95% compliance to the blueprint.

All leading banks participate in the scheme in its strictest form, which includes regular external auditing, a fact which Hans Joerg von Euw, marketing director of Julius Baer Asset Management, calls a "tremendous success".

He adds: " We are extremely proud to have been the first country in Europe to ally our own performance standards of fairness and transparency with those of AIMR and extremely pleased at the positive response we have had from the investment market in Switzerland.""

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