Financial Services Regulation and Compliance - Funds Jan 2020

Domestic 

Central Bank of Ireland clarifies UCITS financial indices certification 

The Central Bank of Ireland(CBI) issued clarification on the pre- and post-authorisation certification process for UCITS index certification or confirmation.  The CBI's revised UCITS Financial Indices guidance issued in July 2019. On 9 January 2020 Irish Funds issued a regulatory update with further detail from the CBI.

CBI Q&A on investment by UCITS in CFDs, CLOs, CoCos and binary options

The CBI has not ruled out investment by Irish UCITS funds in Contracts for Difference (CFDs), Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs), Contingent Convertible Securities (CoCos) and binary options but has noted that CBI may require more detail at authorisation stage. This does not apply to Qualifying Investor Alternative Investment Funds (QIAIFs) at all.

European 

ESMA annual report on AIFs

​ESMA published its annual statistical report on EU AIFs on 10 January 2020​. The report covers the year 2018. It valued the AIF sector in 2018 at €5.8tn or nearly 40% of the total EU fund industry. The report is based on data from 30,357 AIFs, or almost 100% of the market.

For more information on this topic please contact any member of A&L Goodbody's Financial Regulation team.

Date published: 7 February 2020