Funds Quarterly Legal And Regulatory Update: 1 January 2024 To 31 March 2024 - Wealth & Asset Management

1. APPROACHING DEADLINES ¹²

Q2 2024	29 April 2024	The new EMIR Refit reporting regime comes into effect. See Section 9.1 below for further information.
	1 May 2024	New reporting obligations on EU legal entities whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 40% by a Russian legal entity, Russian national or Russian resident relating to transfer of funds outside of the EU begin to apply. See Section 13.1 below for further information.
	6 May 2024	Revised ESMA guidelines on stress test scenarios under the MMF Regulation apply from this date. See Section 6.1 below for further information.
	24 May 2024	Irish funds authorised before 24 November 2022 which invest 50% or more directly or indirectly in Irish property assets (Property Funds) which are structured as open-ended funds with limited liquidity must comply with applicable provisions of the Central Bank's guidance on Property Funds relating to minimum liquidity timeframes
	27 May 2024	All Irish fund management companies with additional individual portfolio management permissions authorised by the Central Bank on or before 27 November 2023 should ensure that they take all necessary steps to comply with the new "own funds" framework introduced by the Central Bank by 27 May 2024. See the Dillon Eustace Quarter 4 2023 Funds QLU for further information.
	28 May 2024	New rules being implemented by the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer transactions in U.S. securities from two business days after the trade date (T+2) to one business day after the trade date (T+1) take effect.
	7 June 2024	Deadline for responding to the Central Bank's Consultation Paper 158 on its revised consumer protection code. See Section 3.2 below for further details.
	30 June 2024	All Irish fund management companies must have completed a review of their asset valuation frameworks in accordance with the Central Bank's Dear Chair Letter by this date. See the Dillon Eustace Quarter 4 2023 Funds QLU for further information.
	30 June 2024	Fund management companies which (i) are obliged due to their size or (ii) have chosen to report on the principal adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors must publish a PAI statement covering the 2023 calendar year on their websites or before this date
	30 June 2024	All fund management companies with funds under management which are either: (i) authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland but never launched (i.e. did not issue any shares within 18 months of authorisation); or (ii) fully liquidated must complete the completed revocation forms for such funds and submit them to fundrevocations@centralbank.ie by 30 June 2024.
Q3 2024	1 July 2024	New reporting obligations on EU credit institutions and financial institutions which initiate transfers of funds of any EU entity whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 40% by a Russian legal entity, Russian national or Russian resident outside of the EU begin to apply. See Section 13.3 below for further information.

2. UCITS & AIFMD

2.1 Publication of Directive (EU) 2024/927 in the Official Journal of the European Union

Directive (EU) 2024/927 which amends AIFMD³ and the UCITS Directive⁴ was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (Official Journal) on 26 March 2024 (Omnibus Directive).

The Omnibus Directive enters into force on 15 April 2024 and must be transposed into national law by EU Member States by 16 April 2026.

Significant amendments made to the existing AIFMD and UCITS frameworks by the Omnibus Directive include the following:

(i) Delegation arrangements: strengthening of existing rules and increased supervision by ESMA and national competent authorities of such delegation arrangements through imposing enhanced reporting obligations on fund management companies relating to such arrangements

(ii) Liquidity risk management: introduction of a new regime governing the use of liquidity management tools by UCITS funds and open-ended AIFs;

(iii) Loan origination: introduction of a pan-EU loan origination framework which sets down a common set of rules for AIFMs managing AIFs which engage in lending to third parties and which allow AIFMs who originate loans on behalf of AIFs under management to passport such services into other EU Member States

(iv) Depositary passport: the ability for an AIF to appoint a depositary located in another EU jurisdiction in certain specific circumstances;

(v) Enhanced supervisory reporting regime: extension of the AIFMD "Annex IV" reporting framework to UCITS management companies and enhancements to the standardisation of reporting including the removal of duplications and inconsistencies between reporting frameworks of different sectors of the financial industry.

Under the Omnibus Directive, ESMA has been tasked with preparing implementing regulations and guidelines on a range of specific matters relating to delegation, loan origination and liquidity management tools amongst others. It has indicated that it will publish consultations on (i) guidelines on the selection and calibration of liquidity management tools and (ii) regulatory technical standards on the characteristics of liquidity management tools in Quarter 2/Quarter 3 of 2024.

A copy of the Omnibus Directive is available here.

A Dillon Eustace three-part video series on the changes being introduced under the Omnibus Directive is available here.

To view the full article, click here.

Footnotes

1. The "Approaching Deadlines" section does not include filing requirements in respect of any filing where the filing date is determined with reference to the relevant entity's annual accounting date (such as the filing of annual and semi-annual financial statements with the Central Bank) nor does it address any taxrelated deadlines to which funds and fund management companies may be subject. Periodic reviews of matters such as the risk management framework, business plan and policies and procedures of fund management companies as well as any other actions required to be taken under the Irish Funds Corporate Governance Code are also excluded from the remit of this section as the dates for completion of same are determined by the relevant fund management company/fund rather than being set down in relevant legislation or guidance.

2. To the extent that they have not already done so, funds falling within the scope of Article 8 or Article 9 of the SFDR must file updated pre-contractual annexes contained in Commission Delegated Regulation 2023/363 which contain additional disclosure obligations relating to exposure to Taxonomy-aligned fossil gas and nuclear energy economic activities with the Central Bank "as soon as possible and at the earliest opportunity".

3. Directive 2011/61/EU

4. Directive 2009/65/EC

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.