Investment Funds - A Comprehensive Introduction to UCITS, AIFMD & More

Introduction

This new full day course will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the overall landscape of investment funds including their categorisation, structures, regulation, and latest trends.

The course will examine in detail two key types of investment funds - retail funds and alternative funds.

You will also learn about how alternative funds are becoming available to certain retail investors.

You will be guided through the complex regulatory regimes from authorisation to marketing, and the roles of various players in the industry such as the manager, the depositary and other important service providers.

You will also embark on a journey to some of the key jurisdictions for the fund industry including Luxembourg and Ireland.

Moreover, hot topics and exciting trends including ETFs, ESG, and the ‘democratisation of alternative strategies’ will also help you to keep tuned-in to the industry.

The course will provide a solid foundation on which you may further explore the intricacies and nuances of the ever-expanding investment fund industry.

What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following:

• General overview:
• What is a fund?
• Advantages, disadvantages, types
• UCITS:
• Key features of UCITS
• Legislative framework, eligible and ineligible assets, liquidity rules, key service providers, investor information, cross border marketing
• UK retail funds overview
• AIFMD
• Hot topics - ETFs, access for retail investors to alternative strategies, LTAFs
• Liquidity - case study
• AIFMD overview - key requirements including authorisation process, capital requirements, operating conditions, leverage, remuneration, valuation, delegation
• AIFMD II overview
• Disclosure and reporting
• Marketing of AIFs - professional v retail, NPPR and CBDF
• Key service providers - role of depositary, other service providers
• Key jurisdictions (brief comparison)
• Ireland and Luxembourg (closer look)
• ESG and SDR - revolution in asset management in Europe and the UK
• UK - marketing of foreign funds and the overseas funds regime
• Distribution of funds in EMEA, APAC and the US