Depositary banks should only need authorisation from one EU country in order to act across all of them, a hedge fund body says.
The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima) has called for Ucits depositary ‘passports’ in response to consultation over the proposed Ucits V Directive.
Institutions authorised by one EU country to act as a Ucits depositary “should be granted automatic rights to provide the same services throughout the EU”, Aima says.
Currently, the directive limits the provision of depositary services to funds located in the same member state as the depositary institution.
“Such a Ucits depositary passport would allow for cross border provision of depositary services, based on harmonisation of depositary obligations which at present often differ from EU member state to member state,” it says.
Other recommendations include aligning the Ucits depositary regime and remuneration requirements with those of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and include commodity derivatives in the list of eligible assets in which a Ucits fund can invest.
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