Qualifying Fund

A qualifying investor is a person or body who has certified that they are sufficiently experienced to understand the risks associated with an investment in that fund and who, at the time of the initial investment in that fund falls into one of the categories outlined within Schedule 1 to the Collective Investment Schemes (Qualifying Fund) Regulations 2010.

The Authority must be notified within 10 business days of the launch of a Qualifying Fund. A Notification / alteration form and a Governing Body Responsibility Statement should be submitted via the online portal (www.fscreturns.co.im) in accordance with the requirements of the Collective Investment Scheme (Qualifying Fund) Regulations 2010. Template forms for reference purposes can be found on the Forms page of the website here.

In granting registration, the Authority does not review the offering document of a Qualifying Fund and instead relies upon the Governing Body Responsibility Statement provided by the fund’s governing body.

Qualifying Funds may appoint overseas Promoters and Custodians that are appropriately licensed in an acceptable jurisdiction. As at September 2015 no other jurisdictions have been assessed for this purpose however the Authority has issued a document detailing Acceptable Jurisdictions Criteria.

Where an amendment to the fund is made, the Manager must submit a notification and alteration form via the Authority's online portal (https://www.fscreturns.co.im) within 10 business days of the fund alteration. This details what changes have been made to the fund.

Where the amendment requires a change to the offering document, an updated Governing Body Responsibility Statement must accompany the notification to the Authority.

In addition, the following notifications and submissions are required to be submitted via the online portal (https://www.fscreturns.co.im) on an ongoing basis:-

• An annual Compliance Declaration must be submitted:
  • within 6 months of the first anniversary of the launch of a fund;
  • within 6 months of a fund’s financial year-end thereafter; and
  • immediately prior to the fund ceasing to be a fund.
• Quarterly statistical information must be provided within 15 business days of each quarter end (March, June, September and December);
• Pricing Errors more than 0.5% of the price of the unit must be notified immediately and all errors must be notified on a quarterly basis with the statistical information. The Authority has issued guidance on pricing errors which can be found here;
• Where the audited annual financial statements are not distributed within six months of the year-end or the stated timescale per the offering document (if earlier), notification of late issuance of audited accounts must be made to the Authority. The Authority has previously issued a circular to licenceholders with regards to late accounts and a copy of this document can be found here;
• The Authority does not require copies of annual audited financial statements for Qualifying Funds however notification must be made where issued financial statements are qualified or contain an emphasis of matter. The Authority should be made aware of the reasons for the qualification and be provided with details of the remedial action to be taken.

For forms applicable to Qualifying Funds please click on the forms page found under the Licenceholders tab on the banner above.

Notification of cessation is required within 10 working days of closure or within 10 working days of the date the fund entered into liquidation. The Authority considers the date of scheme cessation as the date liquidators are appointed, although we do retain an interest in the funds.

Immediately prior to the fund ceasing to be a Qualifying Fund, the Governing Body must submit an Annual Compliance Declaration to the Authority via the online portal (https://www.fscreturns.co.im). A template declaration can be found on the Forms page of the website here.