The Financial Conduct Authority has updated its webpage on the Overseas Funds Regime to confirm that it will open the gateway to new schemes on September 30, 2024. From that date, new schemes (schemes not in the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime) will be able to apply for recognition at any time without a landing slot.

For schemes in the TMPR, landing slots will start in October and will be available for operators of stand-alone EEA UCITS. After that, the FCA intends to issue landing slots to operators of umbrella UCITS by alphabetical order of the fund operator's name. The FCA explains that the sequence of landing slots will then be staggered monthly to help with operational efficiency.

The OFR is a new gateway through which certain collective investment schemes, domiciled in jurisdictions deemed to be equivalent by the Government, will be able to market to U.K. retail investors upon recognition by the FCA. At the outset, the OFR will be available to most funds established in EEA and EU member states that have been authorized under the UCITS Directive following the Government's decision to grant equivalence in relation to those funds (excluding money-market funds).

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