IRELAND: Central Bank of Ireland Publishes the Latest Version of the AIF Rulebook

Monday November 9 2015

On 4 November 2015, the Central Bank published the latest version of the AIF Rulebook. The AIF Rulebook is the Central Bank’s rulebook in relation to AIFs which contains chapters concerning Retail Investor AIF, Qualifying Investor AIF, AIF Management Companies, Fund Administrators, Alternative Investment Fund Managers and AIF Depositaries.

Conditions in chapter 1 – Retail Investor AIF Requirements, chapter 2 – Qualifying Investor AIF Requirements, chapter 4 – AIF Management Company Requirements and chapter 6 – AIF Depositary Requirements are conditions imposed by the Central Bank under powers given to the Central Bank under that legislation.

For chapter 3 – Alternative Investment Fund Managers Requirements, conditions are imposed by the Central Bank under Regulation 9 of the AIFM Regulations.

AIFMs which come within the scope of the AIFM Regulations and cannot avail of the exemptions from authorisation set out in Regulation 4 of the AIFM Regulations; or opt to be authorised under the AIFM Regulations are subject to chapter 3 – Alternative Investment Fund Manager Requirements.

Chapter 4 – AIF Management Company Requirements applies to AIF management companies which are not authorised under the AIFM Regulations. These AIF management companies will be required to become registered AIFMs if they are also an AIFM which does not exceed the thresholds detailed in the AIFM Regulations.

Chapter 5 – Fund Administrator Requirements sets out the conditions which the Central Bank imposes on fund administrators. These conditions are imposed by the Central Bank under Section 14 of the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995 (“the IIA”).

Fund administrators are also required to comply with the Prudential Handbook for Investment Firms imposed by the Central Bank under the IIA.

The IIA sets out a list of activities, termed investment business services, for which authorisation under that Act is required. The provision of administration services to investment funds is one of those activities. Fund administrators require specific authorisation under the IIA to carry on that particular investment business service.

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