AIMA recently sent a letter to Nick Miller, the head of the Asset Management Department at the FCA in an attempt to secure clarity regarding the practical implications of the end of the Brexit transition period for AIFMs.
The issues raised primarily concerned the impact on EEA AIFMs marketing to UK investors under the current passporting regime and under the National Private Placement Regime (‘NPPR’).
One of the major issues was whether current registration statuses for EEA AIFMs could be converted to the new categories set out under The Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. These regulations will leave AIFMs with two categories to fit into, UK AIFMs and Third Country AIFMs. The regulations do not set out the process on how existing EEA AIFMs can convert to be a Third Country AIFM, causing a lack of clarity as to whether the EEA AIFM status under passporting or the NPPR can be converted to the new Third Country AIFM status, or if deregistration and reregistration will be required.
This letter has followed a similar letter sent to EU national competent authorities attempting to ascertain similar points for UK AIFMs which are marketed in the rest of the EU.
Laven will keep you updated on the FCA’s response to these crucial questions as well as on any commentary from EU national competent authorities.
If you are looking for a solution to distribute across Europe after Brexit, please get in touch with the Laven team.
