AMF Form – Obligation to Fulfill a Form of Compliance with UCITS 5 for Portfolio Management Companies

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the French financial markets regulator, the “AMF”) published 20 October 2016 a form which will be used to facilitate the compliance with the provisions of the UCITS V Directive on remuneration. As a result, in addition to the update of the program of activities of French management companies authorized under the UCITS Directive, such management companies shall complete the form published by the AMF

 The AMF General Regulations (Règlement Général de l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers) have also been updated pursuant to an Arrêté dated 20 October 2016 in order to implement new obligations relating to the UCITS V Directive.

Read the AMF communication in full (in French) 

Read the remuneration form published by the AMF (in French)  

Read the Arrêté (in French)

Update of the AMF General Regulations – Professional Certification of Financial Investment Advisers

An Arrêté published on 24 October 2016 amended the AMF General Regulations by introducing, among others, regulatory provisions relating to the verification of the minimum knowledge of financial investment advisers (conseillers en investissements financiers). On 10 November 2016, the AMF published an Instruction and a Position relating to the minimum knowledge verification procedures for such advisers. The new regulations will enter into force on 1 January 2016.

Read the Arrêté dated 12 October 2016 (in French)

Read AMF Instruction n° 2016-10 (in French) 

Read AMF Position n° 2016-11 (in French)

Read the Arrêté dated 12 October 2016 (in French)

Read the Ordinance N° 2016-520 dated 28 April 2016 (in French)

AFG – Guidelines for ESG Principles under the Energy Transition Law

The Association Française de la Gestion Financière (the French professional association of French management companies, “AFG”) published on 24 October 2016 guidelines relating to article 173 of the Energy Transition Law for the Green Growth dated 17 August 2015. The guidelines provide general information as to the reporting obligations for French management companies under this law.

Further information is available on the AFG website.

AMF Guidelines – EU Regulation on Market Abuse

The AMF published several regulations related (amonst other areas) to the application in France of the Market Abuse Regulation. These regulations are related to several topics, including:

• Position-Recommandation n° 2016-05, a guide relating to the periodic information for listed companies.
• Instruction n° 2016-06, which consist of regulations relating to the transactions of managers of listed companies.
• Instruction n° 2016-07, which provides the notification procedures to the AMF of any delay in the publication of an inside information, as required under EU Regulations.

• Position-Recommandation n° 2016-08, a guide relating to the permanent information and the management of inside information for listed companies.

Read the Position-Recommandation n° 2016-05 (in French)

Read the Instruction n° 2016-06 (in French)

Read the Position-Recommandation n° 2016-08 (in French)

Decree Related to the Crowdlending Regime

The Decree n° 2016-1453 published on 30 October 2016 has amended the crowdlending regime in French. The main updates are as follows:

• Increase of the borrowing limits (i.e., € 2,000 for remunerated loans and € 5,000 for interest-free loans) for lenders.
• Increase of the maximum loans proposed by crowdlending platforms (i.e., up to € 2.5 million). 
• New financial instruments can be proposed (i.e., preferred shares and convertible bonds).
• Regulatory regime for newly established minibons.

Read the Decree (in French)

AMF Doctrine – Management Fees

The AMF, within the framework of the FROG Working Group (French Routes and Opportunities Garden, whose role is to develop the French asset management industry), updated on 8 November 2016 its doctrine with respect to the presentation of management fees and costs for UCITS funds and certain AIFs. As a result, several Instructions have been updated (see below). The main changes are as follows:

• Obligation to distinguish distinction between the management fees and the external administrative costs of the fund.
• Clear list of each category of fees and costs (see new article 1.3.9 of Position-Recommandation).
• Simplified procedure of information of the unitholders when the change of external fees is below 0.10%.

The revised regulations apply as from 8 November 2016 for new prospectuses and an obligation to update old prospectus before 8 November 2017.

Read the AMF communication, including links to all revised regulations in track changes (in French).