For many people, the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, and what has or has not happened since, was living proof that the regulatory system was not fit for purpose. It failed to flag up the weaknesses in the system, to allow timely intervention and corrective action, and it did not provide the protection for end-users that governments and authorities thought was in place. Beneficiaries of retirement income arrangements — past, present and future — have suffered particularly from the subsequent and continuing downturn in financial markets. The European Union (EU), through the European Commission, has been particularly active since 2007 in putting forward new mechanisms aimed at dealing with these regulatory shortcomings and preventing a recurrence of the perceived failings and excesses of the past. The real estate investment industry is now coming to terms with the effects — some intended, some possibly not — of inter alia the incoming Alternative Investment Fund Manager