Following the end of the transition period, on the 1st January 2021, COLL 5.2.10 was updated to include the “United Kingdom“. COLL 5.2.10 of the Sourcebook now reads that a market is eligible under the “UK UCITS” regime, if it is: A regulated market; A market in the United Kingdom or an EEA State which is regulated, operates regularly and is open to the public.
Welcome to the first monthly regulatory round-up of 2021. Each month we will be summarising the key announcements and regulatory developments impacting the fund industry. The past month brought developments on a range of issues, from updated FAQs and guidelines impacting UCITS and AIFMs, to consultations…
Yesterday, ESMA announced that it will be launching a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) with national competent authorities (NCAs) on the supervision of costs and fees of UCITS across the European Union. The CSA aims to assess the compliance of supervised entities with the relevant cost-related provisions in the UCITS framework, and the obligation of not charging investors with undue costs.
During the CSA, national competent authorities will take into account the supervisory briefing on the supervision of costs published by ESMA in June 2020.
As we move closer and closer to a no-deal Brexit, the likelihood is, that come the end of the UK’s transition period for leaving the EU (1st January 2021), major shareholders will need to consider a number of new factors to ensure they are making the correct disclosure to the correct competent authority of the issuer.
Foreign investment and sensitive sectors regimes enable government across the world to scrutinise foreign shareholders investing in sectors considered sensitive in the particular jurisdiction. We have seen the number of regimes significantly increase and scrutiny intensify throughout 2020. November, however, appears to have been a bumper month in terms of foreign investment developments tracked by our Regulatory Research Team. Below we highlight the top 5 shareholder disclosure FI developments we tracked through November.
Throughout the year regulators have focused on liquidity, and as this year draws to a close, that focus shows no signs of diminishing. “Asset managers need to step up their efforts to ensure the liquidity of their funds is adequately managed and that they are prepared for future shocks” – that was the closing remarks from Steven Maijoor’s Keynote Address at EFAMA’s Investment Management Forum which heavily focused on liquidity risk.
On 11th November 2020, the UK Government introduced the long-awaited National Security and Investment Bill in the House of Commons. The Bill provides the government with new powers to screen investments, and aims at tightening the rules governing foreign investment across Britain’s critical infrastructure and parts of its defence industries.
In July, the SEC announced proposed amendments to 13F Reporting, to update the reporting threshold for institutional investment managers, as well as a number of other ancillary changes. The major proposed amendment was the increasing of the reporting threshold from $100 million to $3.5 billion.
Despite the continuing focus on the rapidly rising COVID-19 infections rates in the US & Europe, the looming Lockdown 2.0, and the impending, potentially contentious race for the White House, October saw regulators press ahead with the launch of several significant fund regulatory developments.
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 3 to 2, the 458 page derivative use rules aimed at enhancing the regulatory framework for derivatives in the U.S. The Investment Company Act limits the ability of registered funds and business development companies to engage in transactions that involve potential future payment obligations, including obligations under derivatives such as forwards, futures, swaps and written options. The new rules, which apply to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), close-end funds, as well as business development companies, will permit funds to enter into these transactions if they comply with certain conditions outlined below, which are designed to increase investor protection.
