UCITS licences

A manager wishing to offer units in a UCITS investment fund requires a licence. UCITS can take the form of an investment company or an investment fund. The manager of the UCITS has the licence obligation. The investment company itself must only possess a licence if it does not have its own manager.

UCITS manager licence application

In order to obtain a licence as a UCITS manager a number of requirements must be met. The licence application form gives a good overview of what is involved in an application of this type.

The AFM charges €200 per hour for AFM activities up to a maximum of €100,000. The statutory time limit for processing a licence application is 8 weeks.

Licence application for UCITS investment company without separate manager

The licence conditions for a UCITS investment company without separate manager are basically the same as for a UCITS manager. The licence application form can also be used for UCITS investment companies without a separate manager.

Relevant links

Licence application UCITS manager
Licence application UCITS manager without separate manager

When a UCITS manager also wants to provide investment services, it may need to extend the scope of a licence.

Licence extension investment fund

A UCITS manager must extend the scope of its licence if it wants to provide investment services or start managing (or offering) a Money Market Fund (MMF).

In order to be eligible for an extension of the scope of a licence, you must meet a number of conditions, including:

• at least one day-to-day policymaker must be suitable for the types of investments and/or services with which the scope of the licence is extended;
• the description of operations should be adapted to the new types of investments and/or services.

You can use the UCITS licence application form to apply for the scope extension. For an extension, only the general information and relevant paragraphs for the extension need to be filled in.

The fees for an extension of the scope of a licence are €10,500 per request.

The statutory processing time for the licence application is eight weeks.

Licence scope extension management of Money Market Funds

With effect from 21 January 2019, it is no longer permitted to manage or offer Money Market Funds (MMFs) without having applied for an extension of the scope of a licence and the relevant MMFs having been registered with the AFM.

A manager offering and/or managing or wishing to manage and/or offer an MMF must apply once to the AFM for an extension of the scope of its licence for this purpose.

To obtain an extension of the scope of your licence, you must be able to demonstrate that you meet the conditions arising from the Money Market Fund Regulation (MMFR), these conditions concern for example:

• knowing your client policy
• internal credit quality assessment process
• data reporting obligations

A manager must not only extend the scope of its licence, but separately notify all its offered and/or managed MMFs. To notify a MMF with the AFM, you must be able to demonstrate that you meet the requirements arising from the MMFR. This includes requirements for:

• the investment policy
• the method of valuation

If you do not yet hold a licence or if it is a new (sub)fund, you must first apply for a licence as a manager and/or notify the (sub)fund.

The AFM charges fees for both the application for the extension of the scope of a licence to manage the MMF and the reporting of the MMF:

• Extension of the scope of the licence: €2500
• Reporting of an MMF: €2500 per notified MMF

The statutory processing time for the application is two months.

Relevant links

Licence extension investment fund
Licence extension MMF

A UCITS manager or an investment company without a separate UCITS manager can withdraw an existing licence.

Partial withdrawal of licence of investment fund manager

You can also partially withdraw your licence. For example, if you have a licence to provide investment services and you no longer provide these services.

Your licence will be partially withdrawn if you have ceased or transferred the relevant activities.

When applying for full licence withdrawal, you must upload the following documents:

- covering letter
- manager’s declaration
- depositary’s declaration
- liquidation report auditor
- explanation of how investors were included in liquidation/settlement fund(s)

Full licence withdrawal of investment fund

If you wish to cease operating as a UCITS manager or UCITS investment company without a separate manager, you must apply for withdrawal of the entire licence.

With the licence withdrawal application, you must provide the following documents:

- manager’s declaration
- depositary’s declaration
- covering letter

No fees are charged for the withdrawal of a licence. The ongoing regulatory fees will be charged until the date of withdrawal of your licence (pro rata).

Relevant links

Partial withdrawal of investment fund manager
Full withdrawal of investment fund