Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 231/2013 of 19 December 2012 supplementing Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to exemptions, general operating conditions, depositaries, leverage, transparency and supervision Text with EEA relevance

CHAPTER I

DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Definitions

In addition to the definitions laid down in Article 2 of Directive 2011/61/EU, the following definitions apply for the purposes of this Regulation:

(1) ‘capital commitment’ means the contractual commitment of an investor to provide the alternative investment fund (AIF) with an agreed amount of investment on request by the AIFM;

(2) ‘relevant person’ in relation to an AIFM means any of the following: (a) a director, partner or equivalent, or manager of the AIFM; (b) an employee of the AIFM, or any other natural person whose services are placed at the disposal and under the control of the AIFM and who is involved in the provision of collective portfolio management services by the AIFM; (c) a natural or legal person who is directly involved in the provision of services to the AIFM under a delegation arrangement to third parties for the purpose of the provision of collective portfolio management by the AIFM;

(3) ‘senior management’ means the person or persons who effectively conduct the business of an AIFM in accordance with Article 8(1)(c) of Directive 2011/61/EU and, as the case may be, the executive member or members of the governing body;

(4) ‘governing body’ means the body with ultimate decision making authority in an AIFM, comprising the supervisory and the managerial functions, or only the managerial function if the two functions are separated;

(5) ‘special arrangement’ means an arrangement that arises as a direct consequence of the illiquid nature of the assets of an AIF which impacts the specific redemption rights of investors in a type of units or shares of the AIF and which is a bespoke or separate arrangement from the general redemption rights of investors;

(6) ‘sustainability risk’ means sustainability risk as defined in Article 2, point (22), of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹);

(7) ‘sustainability factors’ means sustainability factors as defined in Article 2, point (24), of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088.

CHAPTER II

GENERAL PROVISIONS

SECTION 1

Calculation of assets under management

(Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU)

Article 2

Calculation of the total value of assets under management

In order to qualify for the exemption provided for in Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU an AIFM shall:

(a) identify all AIFs for which it is appointed as the external AIFM or the AIF for which it is the AIFM, where the legal form of the AIF permits internal management, in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2011/61/EU;

(b) identify for each managed AIF the portfolio of assets and determine in accordance with the valuation rules laid down in the law of the country where the AIF is established and, as the case may be, or in the AIF rules or instruments of incorporation the corresponding value of assets under management, including all assets acquired through use of leverage;

(c) aggregate the determined values of assets under management for all AIFs managed and compare the resulting total value of assets under management to the relevant threshold laid down in Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU.

For the purposes of paragraph 1, AIFs managed by the AIFM for which the AIFM has delegated functions in accordance with Article 20 of Directive 2011/61/EU shall be included in the calculation. However, portfolios of AIFs that the AIFM is managing under delegation shall be excluded from the calculation.

Article 3

Ongoing monitoring of assets under management

AIFMs shall establish, implement and apply procedures to monitor on an ongoing basis the total value of assets under management. Monitoring shall reflect an up-to-date overview of the assets under management and shall include the observation of subscription and redemption activity or, where applicable, capital draw downs, capital distributions and the value of the assets invested in for each AIF.

The proximity of the total value of assets under management to the threshold set in Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU and the anticipated subscription and redemption activity shall be taken into account in order to assess the need for more frequent calculations of the total value of assets under management.

Article 4

Occasional breach of the threshold

Article 5

Information to be provided as part of registration

As part of the requirement in Article 3(3)(c) of Directive 2011/61/EU AIFMs shall provide for each AIF the offering document or a relevant extract from the offering document or a general description of the investment strategy. The relevant extract from the offering document and the description of the investment strategy shall include at least the following information:

(a) the main categories of assets in which the AIF may invest;

(b) any industrial, geographic or other market sectors or specific classes of assets which are the focus of the investment strategy;

(c) a description of the AIF’s borrowing or leverage policy.

SECTION 2

Calculation of leverage

(Article 4(3) of Directive 2011/61/EU)

Article 6

General provisions on the calculation of leverage

The Commission shall review, in the light of market developments and no later than 21 July 2015, the calculation methods referred to in the first subparagraph in order to decide whether these methods are sufficient and appropriate for all types of AIFs, or an additional and optional method for calculating leverage should be developed.

Article 7

Gross method for calculating the exposure of the AIF

The exposure of an AIF calculated in accordance with the gross method shall be the sum of the absolute values of all positions valued in accordance with Article 19 of Directive 2011/61/EU and all delegated acts adopted pursuant to it.

For the calculation of the exposure of an AIF in accordance with the gross method an AIFM shall:

(a) exclude the value of any cash and cash equivalents which are highly liquid investments held in the base currency of the AIF, that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash, are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value and provide a return no greater than the rate of a three-month high quality government bond;

(b) convert derivative instruments into the equivalent position in their underlying assets using the conversion methodologies set out in Article 10 and the methods set out in paragraphs (4) to (9) and (14) of Annex I;

(c) exclude cash borrowings that remain in cash or cash equivalent as referred to in point (a) and where the amounts of that payable are known;

(d) include exposure resulting from the reinvestment of cash borrowings, expressed as the higher of the market value of the investment realised or the total amount of the cash borrowed as referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Annex I;

(e) include positions within repurchase or reverse repurchase agreements and securities lending or borrowing or other arrangements in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (10) to (13) of Annex I.

Article 8

Commitment method for calculating the exposure of an AIF

For the calculation of the exposure of an AIF in accordance with the commitment method an AIFM shall:

(a) convert each derivative instrument position into an equivalent position in the underlying asset of that derivative using the conversion methodologies set out in Article 10 and paragraphs (4) to (9) and (14) of Annex II;

(b) apply netting and hedging arrangements;

(c) calculate the exposure created through the reinvestment of borrowings where such reinvestment increases the exposure of the AIF as defined in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Annex I;

(d) include other arrangements in the calculation in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (10) to (13) of Annex I.

For the purposes of calculating the exposure of an AIF according to the commitment method:

(a) netting arrangements shall include combinations of trades on derivative instruments or security positions which refer to the same underlying asset, irrespective — in the case of derivative instruments — of the maturity date of the derivative instruments and where those trades on derivative instruments or security positions are concluded with the sole aim of eliminating the risks linked to positions taken through the other derivative instruments or security positions;

(b) hedging arrangements shall include combinations of trades on derivative instruments or security positions which do not necessarily refer to the same underlying asset and where those trades on derivative instruments or security positions are concluded with the sole aim of offsetting risks linked to positions taken through the other derivative instruments or security positions.

By way of derogation from paragraph 2, a derivative instrument shall not be converted into an equivalent position in the underlying asset if it has all of the following characteristics:

(a) it swaps the performance of financial assets held in the AIF’s portfolio for the performance of other reference financial assets;

(b) it totally offsets the risks of the swapped assets held in the AIF’s portfolio so that the AIF’s performance does not depend on the performance of the swapped assets;

(c) it includes neither additional optional features, nor leverage clauses nor other additional risks as compared to a direct holding of the reference financial assets.

By way of derogation from paragraph 2, a derivative instrument shall not be converted into an equivalent position in the underlying asset when calculating the exposure according to the commitment method if it meets both of the following conditions:

(a) the combined holding by the AIF of a derivative instrument relating to a financial asset and cash which is invested in cash equivalent as defined in Article 7(a) is equivalent to holding a long position in the given financial asset;

(b) the derivative instrument shall not generate any incremental exposure and leverage or risk.

Hedging arrangements shall be taken into account when calculating the exposure of an AIF only if they comply with all the following conditions:

(a) the positions involved within the hedging relationship do not aim to generate a return and general and specific risks are offset;

(b) there is a verifiable reduction of market risk at the level of the AIF;

(c) the risks linked to derivative instruments, general and specific, if any, are offset;

(d) the hedging arrangements relate to the same asset class;

(e) they are efficient in stressed market conditions.

An AIFM shall net positions in any of the following cases:

(a) between derivative instruments, provided they refer to the same underlying asset, even if the maturity date of the derivative instruments is different;

(b) between a derivative instrument whose underlying asset is a transferable security, money market instrument or units in a collective investment undertaking as referred to in points 1 to 3 of Section C of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC, and that same corresponding underlying asset.

Article 9

Methods of increasing the exposure of an AIF

When calculating exposure AIFMs shall use the methods set out in Annex I for the situations referred to therein.

Article 10

Conversion methodologies for derivative instruments

AIFMs shall use the conversion methodologies set out in Annex II for the derivative instruments referred to therein.

Article 11

Duration netting rules

SECTION 3

Additional own funds and professional indemnity insurance

(Article 9(7) and Article 15 of Directive 2011/61/EU)

Article 12

Professional liability risks

Professional liability risks as defined in paragraph 1 shall include, without being limited to, risks of:

(a) loss of documents evidencing title of assets of the AIF;

(b) misrepresentations or misleading statements made to the AIF or its investors;

(c) acts, errors or omissions resulting in a breach of: (i) legal and regulatory obligations; (ii) duty of skill and care towards the AIF and its investors; (iii) fiduciary duties; (iv) obligations of confidentiality; (v) AIF rules or instruments of incorporation; (vi) terms of appointment of the AIFM by the AIF;

(d) failure to establish, implement and maintain appropriate procedures to prevent dishonest, fraudulent or malicious acts;

(e) improperly carried out valuation of assets or calculation of unit/share prices;

(f) losses arising from business disruption, system failures, failure of transaction processing or process management.

Article 13

Qualitative requirements addressing professional liability risks

Article 14

Additional own funds

The value of the portfolios of AIFs managed shall be the sum of the absolute value of all assets of all AIFs managed by the AIFM, including assets acquired through use of leverage, whereby derivative instruments shall be valued at their market value.

The AIFM shall establish, implement and apply procedures to monitor on an ongoing basis the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed, calculated in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 2. Where, before the annual recalculation referred to in the first subparagraph, the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed increases significantly, the AIFM shall without undue delay recalculate the additional own funds requirement and shall adjust the additional own funds accordingly.

Article 15

Professional indemnity insurance

The AIFM shall take out and maintain at all times professional indemnity insurance that:

(a) shall have an initial term of no less than one year;

(b) shall have a notice period for cancellation of at least 90 days;

(c) shall cover professional liability risks as defined in Article 12(1) and (2);

(d) is taken out from an EU or non-EU undertaking authorised to provide professional indemnity insurance, in accordance with Union law or national law;

(e) is provided by a third party entity.

Any agreed defined excess shall be fully covered by own funds which are in addition to the own funds to be provided in accordance with Article 9(1) and (3) of Directive 2011/61/EU.

CHAPTER III

OPERATING CONDITIONS FOR AIFMs

SECTION 1

General principles

(Article 12(1) of Directive 2011/61/EU)

Article 16

General obligations for competent authorities

When assessing the AIFM’s compliance with Article 12(1) of Directive 2011/61/EU, the competent authorities shall use at least the criteria laid down in this Section.

Article 17

Duty to act in the best interests of the AIF or the investors in the AIF and the integrity of the market

Article 18

Due diligence

Article 19

Due diligence when investing in assets of limited liquidity

Where AIFMs invest in assets of limited liquidity and where such investment is preceded by a negotiation phase, they shall, in relation to the negotiation phase, in addition to the requirements laid down in Article 18:

(a) set out and regularly update a business plan consistent with the duration of the AIF and market conditions;

(b) seek and select possible transactions consistent with the business plan referred to in point (a);

(c) assess the selected transactions in consideration of opportunities, if any, and overall related risks, all relevant legal, tax-related, financial or other value affecting factors, human and material resources, and strategies, including exit strategies;

(d) perform due diligence activities related to the transactions prior to arranging execution;

(e) monitor the performance of the AIF with respect to the business plan referred to in point (a).

Article 20

Due diligence in the selection and appointment of counterparties and prime brokers

When selecting prime brokers or counterparties of an AIFM or an AIF in an OTC derivatives transaction, in a securities lending or in a repurchase agreement, AIFMs shall ensure that those prime brokers and counterparties fulfil all of the following conditions:

(a) they are subject to ongoing supervision by a public authority;

(b) they are financially sound;

(c) they have the necessary organisational structure and resources for performing the services which are to be provided by them to the AIFM or the AIF.

Article 21

Acting honestly, fairly and with due skills

In order to establish whether an AIFM conducts its activities honestly, fairly and with due skills, competent authorities shall assess, at least, whether the following conditions are met:

(a) the governing body of the AIFM possesses adequate collective knowledge, skills and experience to be able to understand the AIFM’s activities, in particular the main risks involved in those activities and the assets in which the AIF is invested;

(b) the members of the governing body commit sufficient time to properly perform their functions in the AIFM;

(c) each member of the governing body acts with honesty, integrity and independence of mind;

(d) the AIFM devotes adequate resources to the induction and training of members of the governing body.

Article 22

Resources

Article 23

Fair treatment of investors in the AIF

Article 24

Inducements

AIFMs shall not be regarded as acting honestly, fairly and in accordance with the best interests of the AIFs they manage or the investors in these AIFs if, in relation to the activities performed when carrying out the functions referred to in Annex I to Directive 2011/61/EU, they pay or are paid any fee or commission, or provide or are provided with any non-monetary benefit, other than the following:

(a) a fee, commission or non-monetary benefit paid or provided to or by the AIF or a person on behalf of the AIF;

(b) a fee, commission or non-monetary benefit paid or provided to or by a third party or a person acting on behalf of a third party, where the AIFM can demonstrate that the following conditions are satisfied: (i) the existence, nature and amount of the fee, commission or benefit, or, where the amount cannot be ascertained, the method of calculating that amount, is clearly disclosed to the investors in the AIF in a manner that is comprehensive, accurate and understandable, prior to the provision of the relevant service; (ii) the payment of the fee or commission, or the provision of the non-monetary benefit are designed to enhance the quality of the relevant service and not impair compliance with the AIFM’s duty to act in the best interests of the AIF it manages or the investors in the AIF;

(c) proper fees which enable or are necessary for the provision of the relevant service, including custody costs, settlement and exchange fees, regulatory levies or legal fees, and which, by their nature, do not give rise to conflicts with the AIFM’s duties to act honestly, fairly and in accordance with the best interests of the AIF it manages or the investors of the AIF.

Article 25

Effective employment of resources and procedures — handling of orders