Directive 2024/927 - Amendment of Directives 2011/61/EU and 2009/65/EC as regards delegation arrangements, liquidity risk management, supervisory reporting, the provision of depositary and custody services and loan origination by alternative investment funds - Main contents

Official Journal

of the European Union

EN

L series

2024/927

26.3.2024

In accordance with Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), the Commission has reviewed the application and the scope of that Directive and concluded that the objectives of integrating the Union market for alternative investment funds (AIFs), ensuring a high level of investor protection and protecting financial stability have, for the most part, been met. However, in its review the Commission also concluded that there is a need to harmonise the rules for the managers of alternative investment funds (AIFMs) managing AIFs which originate loans, as well as a need to clarify the standards applicable to AIFMs that delegate their functions to third parties, to ensure equal treatment of entities providing custody services (‘custodians’), to improve cross-border access to depositary services, to optimise supervisory data collection and to facilitate the use of liquidity management tools across the Union. Therefore, amendments are necessary to address those needs in order to improve the functioning of Directive 2011/61/EU.

A robust delegation regime, the equal treatment of custodians, coherent supervisory reporting, in particular through the removal of duplications and redundant requirements, and a harmonised approach to the use of liquidity management tools are equally necessary for the management of undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS). Therefore, it is also appropriate to amend Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), which lays down rules regarding the authorisation and operation of UCITS and their management companies in the areas of delegation, asset safekeeping, supervisory reporting and liquidity risk management.

The Union market for AIFs reached EUR 6,8 trillion in net asset value at the end of 2022. Professional investors account for approximately 86 % of the net asset value of AIFs managed or marketed by authorised AIFMs and by sub-threshold AIFMs, i.e., the AIFMs referred to in Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU, in the Union. The Union market for AIFs provides over EUR 250 billion to Union businesses in private credit, and Union investors are responsible for 30 % of the global capital allocated to the whole industry. The size of the aggregated Union market for AIFs has continued to expand, increasing by over 15 % between 2020 and 2022, and AIFs accounted for one third of the fund industry of the European Economic Area at the end of 2020. Nonetheless, there is still room for the industry to grow by providing institutional investors with greater choice and enhancing the competitiveness of the capital markets union.

To increase the efficiency of the activities of AIFMs, the list of ancillary services set out in Article 6(4) of Directive 2011/61/EU should be extended to include the tasks carried out by an administrator in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) (‘administration of benchmarks’) and credit...