The European Fund and Asset Management Association has a new president following the election of Jean-Baptiste de Franssu for a two-year term.

Mr de Franssu is currently chief executive of Invesco Europe, having joined Invesco France as managing director in 1990 and subsequently moving to his current position when Invesco Europe was founded in 1996.

"The coming two years will be a time of unique opportunities, with a new parliament and commission, a new pragmatism and new challenges. Distribution and pensions seem to me to be the next two big challenges for our industry. Distribution is where our clients and our products meet. We need to review this area to ensure that investors are well served by our distributors and empowered to make coherent financial planning decisions,” Mr de Franssu said in a statement.

“Pensions solutions in Europe are fragmented and often inadequate. Our industry therefore has a duty to play a leading role in the debate over the future of pensions. Why? Because we can offer one of the most robust containers for pensions savings: UCITS."

The association’s Annual General Meeting in Athens also saw the election of Claude Kremer as vice president. Mr de Franssu has already served as vice president and will succeed Mathias Bauer who will now focus on his responsibilities as chief executive of Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna.

Mr Kremer, who is chairman of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, is also a founding partner and head of investment management at Arendt & Medernach, the Luxembourg-based law firm.

As the representative body for the European investment management industry, EFAMA's stated aims are to support a high level of investor protection, strengthen the competitiveness of the industry and promote the completion of an effective single market for investment management.