Transposition of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is due to be transposed into national law by 22 July 2013. The Directive will have a significant impact on firms that run any type of fund other than those authorised under UCITS and provides a number of opportunities and obligations for those firms.

The Directive establishes an EU-wide harmonised framework for monitoring and supervising risks posed by Alternative Investment Fund Managers and the funds they manage. It covers the investment managers of hedge funds, private equity funds, and real estate funds among others and is therefore relevant to many different types of asset manager.

The Directive will also affect firms providing relevant services such as prime brokerage facilities, external valuation, client administration, and marketing and distribution.

Transposition into UK law will require a number of high-level policy decisions as well as a considerable number of operational ones. This consultation paper sets out the government’s proposed approach to a number of the key policy decisions. However, as at time of writing, the Level 2 Regulation has yet to be published, we will be producing a further consultation to cover issues this raises in early 2013.

We would like to hear from UK-based fund managers that deem at least part of their regular business as managing AIFs (including UCITS management companies if they manage AIFs as well), discretionary investment managers, operators of unregulated collective investment schemes, investment companies that do not employ an external fund manager, depositaries and custodians holding the assets of AIFs, prime brokerage facilities, investors, trade bodies, and others interested in the Directive and its transposition.

In addition to our consultation paper, the Financial Services Authority has published its own covering operational issues. They will also be publishing a second paper in early 2013.

The government has received a number of technical questions during the consultation process. The document below has been prepared to provide answers where the government is currently able to.