The Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) has announced that it will no longer carry out a prior review of certain fund documentation related to authorisation and post-authorisation procedures for UCITS and retail investor alternative investment funds (“RIAIFs”).
On 9 October 2018, the Central Bank issued a letter to industry advising of changes to its fund authorisation and post-authorisation procedures for UCITS and RIAIFs. The Central Bank will no longer carry out a prior review of the following:
- the establishment of new share classes;
- depositary agreements;
- trusts deeds;
- deeds of constitution;
- investment limited partnership agreements for RIAIFs; and
- UCITS financial indices (the Central Bank has also updated its guidance on the use of financial indices by UCITS to reflect the introduction of the new certification process). For further information on the new certification process for UCITS using financial indices, please see our recent update, available here on the Asset Management page.
Spot checks may be performed on any of the above listed documentation by the Central Bank following authorisation.
The Central Bank has also published a new application form for UCITS mergers in order to streamline UCITS merger applications. The application form reflects current requirements and does not introduce any new obligations.
These changes are effective immediately so that any applications submitted from 9 October 2018 onward will come within this new regime.
The appendix to the letter sets out the new procedures and the wording to be used in the required confirmations and certificates.
These welcome changes should reduce the current review period by some weeks and should result in a more efficient authorisation and post-authorisation regime for UCITS and RIAIFs.
Please get in touch with your usual Asset Management and Investment Funds Department contact or any of the contacts listed in this publication should you require further information in relation to the material referred to in this update.