AMF updates its policy on collective investment schemes

23 December 2011

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers has given a commitment to update and publish its policy on collective investment schemes regularly, in order to ensure that asset management companies and collective investment scheme distributors are familiar with it.

To this effect, the AMF has added the following to its three existing policy guides and published them on its website:

• The guide to regulatory documents for collective investment schemes (“OPCVM”) and real-estate collective investment schemes (“OPCI”), explaining how to draw up the KIID and prospectus for such schemes.
• The good practice guide to drafting commercial documents and distributing collective investment undertakings, illustrating appropriate behaviour and bad practice to be proscribed.
• The good practice guide to monitoring collective investment undertakings. The purpose of this document is to inform asset management companies, depositaries and statutory auditors of the way certain aspects of the regulations should be interpreted.

These guides contain recommendations which market players are asked to comply with, and also positions setting out the binding provisions of the General Regulation.

The main modifications made to the documents are the following:

The guide to regulatory documents for collective investment schemes ("OPCVM") and real-estate collective investment schemes ("OPCI")

• Updated regulatory references further to transposal of the UCITS IV Directive.
• Details on drafting the risk and return profile section of the Key Investor Information Document (KIID).
• Information to be completed in the “past performances” section of the KIID when the collective investment scheme modifies its management orientation during its lifespan.
• Presentation of charges in venture capital investment funds in accordance with Decree 2011-924 of 1st August 2011.
• Information relating to portfolio insurance techniques for drawing up the detailed memo.

The good practice guide to drafting commercial documents and distributing collective investment undertakings ("OPC")

• Indication of the target clients concerned by each article in the guide.
• Drafting promotional documents referring to a reference indicator not mentioned in the legal documentation.
• Communicating on strategy indices of the “short” or “leverage” type.
• Information on communication about financial strategy indices.
• Distribution rules for index collective investment undertakings.
• Distribution of funds using strategies of the “portfolio insurance” type.

The good practice guide to monitoring collective investment undertakings ("OPC")

• Diligence required for collective investment undertakings declared as being reserved for a category of investors investing all their assets in vehicles governed by foreign law.
• Good compensation practice.

Press release

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