On July 23, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a press release announcing updates to two of its sets of Questions and Answers (Q&As): (1) Q&As relating to the Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive; and (2) those relating to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

The updated UCITS Directive Q&As feature four new questions and answers with respect to:

  1. UCITS investing in other UCITS or collective investment undertakings which have different investment policies;
  2. whether netting and hedging arrangements can be taken into account in the calculation of issuer concentration limits;
  3. re-use of assets held in custody by a UCITS depositary; and
  4. the supervision of branches of UCITS management companies providing investment services.

The updated AIFMD Q&As include one new question and answer which concerns the supervisory responsibilities of competent authorities in host EU member states when an alternative investment fund manager provides investment services through a branch established in that member state, effectively repeating the fourth item above in the context of alternative investment fund managers.

ESMA previously updated both Q&As in October 2017 (further details of that update are available in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of October 13, 2017).

ESMA’s press release is accessible here.

The UCITS Directive Q&As are available here and the AIFMD Q&As, here.