AIMA Calls for UCITS Depositary Passport Regime

In its position paper on UCITS V (the European Union directive on Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities), the Alternative Investment Management Association, the global hedge fund organization, has called for institutions authorized to act as a UCITS depositary by one European Union country to be granted a "passport" to provide the same services in other member states of the European Union. The paper also makes a number of other recommendations, including:

• Alignment of the UCITS depositary regimes and remuneration requirements with those proposed in the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive;
• The ability of depositaries to discharge their liabilities in certain situations; and
• That commodity derivatives be included in the list of assets in which a UCITS would be allowed to invest.

The European Commission’s proposal for a UCITS Directive was published in July, with the final text currently anticipated to be adopted during 2013.