The Drawdown quotes Victoria Younghusband on depositary services and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive
The upcoming 2024 AIFMD II update may trigger fund managers to reflect on depositary requirements.
Under AIFMD, fund managers in scope are required to have an independent depositary to monitor fund activity and protect investors’ assets. A depositary is meant to keep assets within a fund safe, administer them on a daily basis and ensure proper compliance with investment policies.
Victoria Younghusband, Partner in our corporate team, argues in a piece for private equity title The Drawdown that wider AIFMD reforms will likely impact any depositary requirements, suggesting that the proportional approach would do away with the two types of AIFM and instead focus on the AUM and asset class of the AIFM.
Currently, a lot of AIFMs stay sub-threshold to avoid the burdensome regulatory requirements and instead appoint a custodian to undertake the safekeeping part of the depositary’s responsibilities.
Read the full article in The Drawdown here.