AIFMD Amendments under a No-Deal Brexit

On 21 February the UK Treasury published its preparations for a no-deal Brexit called the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

The main objective of these regulations is to ensure smooth sailing in a no-deal Brexit and the amendment of the UK’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Regulations 2013 in such circumstances.The keypoints are:

• The EEA passporting system will no longer apply to UK Managers of AIFMs therefore all references to the European Union become the United Kingdom and all references to ESMA become the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
• There is no onus on UK authorities to cooperate with EU authorities without a guarantee of reciprocity.
• “AIF” refers to any investment fund that is not a UK UCITS fund (as defined in Directive 2009/65/EC, the “UCITS Directive”).
• Funds that are recognised under Section 272 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 will no longer be subject to the reporting requirements of AIFMD.
• A temporary permissions regime has been introduced by the UK Treasury for EEA AIFs and UK AIFs that are marketed by EEA AIFMs in the UK, via the marketing passport, before Brexit day.
• AIFMs will have to make requests to the FCA before Brexit day for temporary permission to market the relevant AIF in the UK. They must do this through its “Connect” system before the end of 11 April. An AIFM will then be able to market its AIF as it currently does.
• The temporary permission regime will be in place for a maximum of three years.
• EEA and UK AIFMS who will be marketing AIFs in the UK after Brexit for the first time must use the UK’s national private placement regime (“NPPR”).
• UK AIFMs will continue to report information to the FCA on their UK and EU AIFs.

If you have questions about your AIFMD requirements, please contact us at [email protected].