Cayman Islands regulator announces development of a new Cayman AIFMD compliant fund for marketing in the EEA
From Simmons & Simmons elexica
The Cayman regulator has published a statement that it is finalising a new AIFMD-compliant regime and a new category of fund – an AIFMD Fund – that wishes to market in the EEA.
Submitted 19 May 2015
Applicable Law Cayman Islands, European Union
Topic Asset Management > Hedge funds, Private equity funds, Regulated funds
Investment Bank Regulatory
Sector Focus Asset Management and Investment Funds
ContactSimon Whiteside, Devarshi Saksena, Richard Perry, Iain Cullen
In a statement dated 15 May 2015, the Cayman regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has announced that, along with the Cayman Government, it is finalising a new AIFMD-compliant regime and a new category of fund – an “AIFMD Fund” – that wishes to market in the European Economic Area (EEA). This open or closed-ended fund would create a flexible “opt-in” regime”.
The background to the statement is that, in July 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is due to make a recommendation to the European Commission as to whether the AIFMD marketing passport should be extended to allow non-EEA funds to be marketed into the EEA and, if so, whether all such funds would be allowed or only those from certain specified jurisdictions.
Despite there being no formal indication from ESMA as to its current position, the general mood music in the market is that it will recommend that only funds from a limited number of jurisdictions be allowed to be marketed in the first instance. As a result, gossip is raging as to whether Cayman funds would be within the first tranche of permissible funds.
Clearly, CIMA is hopeful that the new AIFMD Fund will be accepted by ESMA as capable of being marketed in the EEA under an extended AIFMD passport.
In its statement, CIMA notes:
At this stage, CIMA would urge industry members not to give credence to otherwise baseless rumours as to the status of any supposed ESMA listing of countries, and would like to give the assurance that CIMA and the Ministry are working assiduously within the context of our respective remits to ensure that Cayman funds can continue to be marketed within the EU and elsewhere in the foreseeable future.
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