The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) – see past Regulatory Roundups e.g. No. 15 – has taken a long time coming (the original proposal was back in April 2009) but the clock has now started ticking.
The Directive came into force on 21 July 2011 – the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. However whilst affected firms should have a basic understanding of the implications of the AIFMD, there is no immediate panic as Member States, including the UK, will have to transpose the Directive into national law by 22 July 2013 (see Article 66 in the AIFMD). As with e.g. MiFID the impact that the Directive’s requirements will have on regulated firms will be seen in the FSA Handbook as new or amended rules and guidance so expect several policy documents being issued by the FSA over the coming months.
Complyport will work with its clients that are affected by the AIFMD to ensure that they meet regulatory requirements and expectations in a timely manner. However as a (very) brief overview the Directive captures Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) which is basically any collective that is not a UCITS (although strictly speaking it doesn’t directly regulate AIF but rather the Manager (AIFM)). The Directive will have limited application to AIFMs where total AIF AuM, including assets acquired through leverage, do not exceed €100M, which increases to €500M where not leveraged and with no redemption rights during a 5 year period (see Article 3(2)(a) & (b) for precise wording). Areas covered by the Directive include (but are not limited to) marketing; reporting and disclosure; and regulatory capital – the latter will be at least €125K.
