On 15 April 2024, Directive 2024/927/EU ("AIFMD II") entered into force, which marked a significant milestone for the European asset management industry. AIFMD II will introduce a harmonised framework for loan-originating...more
On 19 July 2024, the European Commission (the "Commission") adopted a delegated regulation and accompanying annexes containing its regulatory technical standards ("RTS") supplementing Regulation EU 2015/760, as amended by...more
8/13/2024
/ Anti-Dilution Terms ,
Central Bank of Ireland ,
ELTIF ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Final Report ,
Illiquid Assets ,
Investors ,
Liquidity ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retail Investors ,
Swing Pricing
On 7 May 2024, ESMA published its call for evidence ("CfE") on the review of the Commission Directive (2007/16/EC) on UCITS Eligible Assets ("EAD"). The CfE follows the formal request from the European Commission (the...more
In March, the Council of the European Union published the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD II), aimed at harmonising the rules on delegation, reporting and liquidity management, together with bringing in...more
On 11 March 2024, the Central Bank of Ireland (the "Central Bank") reached a significant milestone in finalising its framework for authorisations under the revised European Long-Term Investment Funds Regulation (EU) 2023/606...more
3/12/2024
/ AIFs ,
Asset Management ,
Central Bank of Ireland ,
ELTIF ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Investors ,
Ireland ,
Long-Term Investment Funds ,
QIAIF ,
Retail Investors
On 5 February 2024, the European Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a proposal for a new regulation on ESG rating activities with the aim of boosting investor confidence in sustainable products....more
On 30 November 2023, the Central Bank of Ireland (the "Central Bank") published a public statement relating to an enforcement action against an Irish-authorised UCITS ICAV (the "ICAV") which has been reprimanded and fined...more
12/18/2023
/ Central Bank of Ireland ,
Compliance ,
Data Breach ,
EMIR ,
EU ,
ICAV ,
Investment Funds ,
Ireland ,
MiFIR ,
Securities ,
UCITS
On 10 November 2023, the Council of the EU (the "Council") published the final compromise text of the political agreement (the "Agreement") for a directive1 amending the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive...more
On 1 November 2023, in a welcome development, the Central Bank of Ireland (the "Central Bank") published Consultation Paper 155 on the proposed new European Long-Term Investment Funds ("ELTIF") chapter in the Central Bank's...more
Welcome to the July – September 2023 issue of our Irish Quarterly Legal and Regulatory Developments report for asset management and investment funds.
This report covers key dates and developments during the quarter, such...more
10/18/2023
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Client Assets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Protection ,
Deadlines ,
ELTIF ,
EMIR ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
ESRB ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FSB ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
MiFID ,
MiFID II ,
Outsourcing ,
Privacy Framework ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UCITS
Yesterday, ESMA published a risk analysis report outlining the results of its disclosure study on ESG names and claims in the EU funds industry.
ESMA utilised natural language processing ("NLP") techniques to analyse the...more
10/4/2023
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
UCITS ,
UK
Today sees a significant and very welcome announcement by Irish Funds in relation to the Irish implementation of the ELTIF 2.0 framework.
Irish Funds has confirmed in a communication to member firms that following...more
On 24 May 2023, the European Commission (the "Commission") adopted and published its retail investment strategy ("RIS") a key tenet of its Capital Markets Union Action Plan (the "CMU Action Plan"). One of the core objectives...more
6/28/2023
/ Capital Markets ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retail Investors
On 13 June 2023, the European Commission (the "Commission") published a significant sustainable finance package on EU Taxonomy, ESG ratings and transition finance.
Expansion of Taxonomy Regulation framework -
The...more
Welcome to the January – March 2023 issue of our Irish Quarterly Legal and Regulatory Developments report for asset management and investment funds.
This report covers key dates and developments during the quarter under...more
4/21/2023
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Companies Registration Office (CRO) ,
ELTIF ,
EMIR ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Stability Board ,
Investment Funds ,
MiFID ,
Money Market Funds ,
National Competent Authorities (NCA) ,
SFDR ,
UCITS ,
UK
On 20 March 2023, the revised European Long-Term Investment Funds Regulation (EU) 2023/606 (the “Regulation”) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, entering into force on the twentieth day following...more
On 2 March 2023, the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) published its third annual Securities Markets Risk Outlook Report (the “Report”). The Report highlights the conduct risks that the Central Bank has identified...more
3/9/2023
/ Central Bank of Ireland ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Economic Downturn ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Liquidity ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability
On 1 December 2022, the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) published its consultation paper CP152 on own funds requirements for UCITS management companies and AIFMs authorised for discretionary portfolio management...more
Substantial changes to Irish whistleblowing law will be introduced by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act, 2022 (the “Amendment Act”) on 1 January 2023.
Protection for whistleblowers is not a new concept in...more
12/1/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Criminal Liability ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Ireland ,
Protected Disclosures ,
Terrorist Financing ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
1.1 ESMA UCITS Q&A updates On 20 July 2022, ESMA published an updated version of its UCITS Q&As with the following new Q&As:
Section X: Depository – new Q&As 7 and 8 on reconciliations; and -
• Section XIII: Delegation...more
10/17/2022
/ Amended Regulation ,
Central Bank of Ireland ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
FSMA ,
IOSCO ,
ISDA ,
Liquidity ,
Money Market Funds ,
UCITS
Challenges create opportunities and the environmental and social challenges we currently face are no exception. In this paper we consider the opportunities provided by sustainable finance, and more specifically impact...more
8/9/2022
/ AIFM ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Green Bonds ,
International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) ,
Investment ,
Paris Agreement ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Taxonomy ,
UCITS
On 31 May 2022, the European Union (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 were published in Iris Oifigiúil and will come into operation on 1 January 2023. The...more
7/15/2022
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Asset Valuations ,
Belarus ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Investment Funds ,
IOSCO ,
Notice of Intent ,
Outsourcing ,
Packaged Retail And Insurance-Based Investment Products (PRIIPS) ,
Russia ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UCITS ,
Ukraine