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The law of 17 December 2010 on undertakings for collective investment transposes the European UCITS directive of 13 July 2009 known as UCITS IV (DIR 2009/65/EC) into national law.

The directive aims to harmonise the rules governing UCITS and to improve the way their distribution functions within the the European Union.

The directive will significantly update the existing Directive 85/611/EEC by modernising the regulatory framework with a view to:

  • assuring adequate protection for investors through more coherent, clearer, correct and comprehensible information in relation to market evolutions,
  • maintaining the fund industry's competitiveness by adapting the regulatory framework of the market,
  • paving the way for cost reductions, while safeguarding a diversified investment product for investors.

In general, the European Investment fund industry needs to enhance its competitiveness by improving the quality of its services and reducing costs.

The UCITS IV Directive deals with the following points:

  • management company passport,
  • cross-border mergers,
  • asset grouping by means of joint structures (master-feeders)
  • simplified authorisation procedures,
  • replacement of the simplified prospectus: Key Investor Information or Key Investor Disclosure (KID),
  • measures concerning implementation.

These measures are applicable since 1 July 2011, insofar as each member state has transposed them by that date.

As regards measures for execution, the European Commission has mandated the ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) to study the content of different measures and to draw up proposals. The member states will then be invited to transpose these execution measures at the same time as the UCITS IV Directive itself.

The principal measures providing detailed improvements to the UCITS regulations are as follows:

Articles

  • 03/04/2012

    The European Banking Federation (EBF) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft future guidelines on UCITS Exchange-Traded Funds (UCITS ETFs) and other UCITS-related issues. It recalls the messages of its in September 2011 response to ESMA and is happy to see that the authority has decided to await the outcome of MiFID in relation to the issue of complexity. That said it is now very unclear what the purpose of the proposed guidelines is.

  • 29/03/2012

    While the overall number of countries with tax issues as a result of the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS IV) Directive has decreased since 2010, there still remains a significant portion of EU Member States that have not addressed the challenges. According to Fill the glass to the brim II: have we broken through?, an updated analysis of KMPG International’s 2010 Fill the glass to the brim on the tax implications of UCITS IV, even though the 27 EU Member States should have transposed the UCITS IV Directive into national law by 1 July 2011, 13 Member States have not yet fulfilled their obligations.

  • 20/01/2012

    The Luxembourg funds industry continued to expand over the last 12 months despite the eurozone crisis and declines in major stock indices. The number of funds in Luxembourg rose by 4.84%1 to 3,833 and net sales amounted to €16.998bn. While total AUM decreased over the period by €101.453bn, mainly as a result of market depreciation, total assets under management were still a steady €2,059.419bn, second globally only to the US.

  • 16/01/2012

    Finesti, the Luxembourg agency for European funds information, reported strong growth in new clients and in its overall fund coverage in 2011. During the year, the firm pursued a strategy of launching and offering new services that enable the European fund industry to comply with certain requirements of the UCITS IV Directive.
     

  • 14/10/2011

    ESMA proposes in it's opinion practical arrangements for cross-border operations involving one MS that has not transposed the Directive.

  • 29/09/2011

    Traditional investment funds and their service providers have experienced some fundamental changes – both challenges and opportunities - in 2011, with the implementation of UCITS IV in Luxembourg law and regulation. UCITS IV sees the management company passport implemented, enhanced requirements for UCITS management companies, key investor information (KII) documents being phased in to replace the simplified prospectus, the notification procedure simplifying the cross-border distribution of UCITS, and the possibility to create master-feeder UCITS and merge UCITS cross-border.

  • 28/09/2011

    The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) sets out on 27th September 2011  its ambition for the Luxembourg Fund Centre, to be a global centre of excellence for the asset management industry, thereby creating opportunities for investors, fund professionals and the global community as a whole.

  • 09/09/2011

    Finesti, the Luxembourg-based information agency for the collection and dissemination of fund information, has launched a service that enables investment funds to comply with the requirements of the UCITS IV directive concerning European cross-border notifications.

  • 06/07/2011

    Only one fifth of the active participants in cross border fund registration in Luxembourg planned to be ready with their first Key Investor Information document (KII), by 1 July 2011, launch date of UCITS IV. To date, however, over 70% of the participants admitted to not having clarified their liability regarding KII with their legal advisor. These results emerged from a survey conducted by Deloitte Luxembourg between the first and second quarter of 2011.

  • 18/05/2011

    A partir du 1er juillet 2011 les OPCVM de droit luxembourgeois jusqu’ici soumis à la loi du 20 décembre 2002 concernant les organismes de placement collectif (la « loi de 2002 ») seront de plein droit régis par la nouvelle loi du 17 décembre 2010. Les prospectus de vente de ces OPCVM seront donc également de plein droit régis par la loi de 2010 à partir de cette date. La CSSF accepte que les adaptations des simples références à la loi de 2002 dans les prospectus de vente des OPCVM ne doivent pas être effectuées pour le 1er juillet 2011, mais qu’elles peuvent se faire au fur et à mesure lors de la prochaine mise à jour des prospectus.

   
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