UK Treasury delays AIFMD until 2014

While member states are required to implement the directive by 22 July 2013, fund managers will have one year to apply for authorisation and will not have to implement the rules until they have been authorised.

This effectively gives alternative investment fund managers until 21 July 2014 to comply with the directive. The Treasury says firms must comply with the rules by this date, regardless of whether there has been time to properly approve their application.

JohnEverett, principal at regulation consultancy firm Bovill, says the news is an indication that the Treasury wishes to take a more relaxed view on the directive than the European Commission intended.

"The Treasury has interpreted a key measure in the Directive in such a way as to provide the UK's fund management industry with an extra year's breathing space to comply with the new rules. It is a much more realistic timetable. We now need to see how other EU member states approach the deadline," he says.

HM Treasury's latest consultation paper on the AIFMD also indicates that smaller funds with assets under management of less than €100m (or €500m if unleveraged and meeting certain other restrictions) will not be forced to comply with aspects of the new rules.

The latest consultation paper can be downloaded from the Treasury website here. The consultation closes on 27 February.

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