EUROPE: July 16 for UCITS IV

Wednesday July 2 2008

Having missed the original deadline of 30th April 2008 for the UCITS IV directive, the release is now expected to be on July 16 2008. Delays have been caused by disagreements between member states regarding the management company passports. Luxembourg and Ireland believe the passports would reduce the power of national regulators, however France, Germany and the UK have supported the proposal in the view that it will help to reduce costs and increase consumer choice.

The reform is expected to proceed without the passports however it will deal with asset pooling through master-feed structures, fund mergers and the simplification of prospectuses.

It is hoped that this reform will be high on the agenda of the member states to allow for the prompt adoption of the reform. However, it is feared that France’s opposition to the lack of passport will not make the reform of high importance to their agenda.