The Central Bank has recently announced that it has amended its UCITS Notices, Non-UCITS Notices (“NU Notices”) and related Guidance Notes effective 23 December 2011 and announced policy changes. While the majority of the amendments are technical in nature, some of the amendments made and policy changes are worth highlighting.

Policy Changes

Borrowing Powers – Foreign Currency – UCITS Notice 11 / NU Notice 3

For both UCITS and Non-UCITS funds that invest across a range of currencies, the borrowing restrictions imposed by the Central Bank did not apply to such funds that borrowed foreign currency by way of a back-to-back loan agreement provided that the offsetting deposit:

(a) was denominated in the base currency of the fund; and (b) equalled or exceeded the value of the foreign currency loan outstanding.

The Central Bank has now removed the requirement that the off-setting deposit be denominated in the base currency of the fund.