INDOS Financial Limited (“INDOS”), the first UK authorised Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) depositary, has extended its FCA authorisation to include the depositary duties of cash flow monitoring and verification of other assets. The addition of these duties to the firm’s existing depositary oversight authorisation enables INDOS to provide a complete depositary-lite solution to alternative investment fund managers seeking to market their funds to European investors from July 2014.
The extension of permissions is another major milestone for INDOS. It comes at a time when pressure is building on managers to appoint depositary providers. The FCA recently reminded managers that they need to have depositaries in place by the end of the AIFMD transitional period – 22 July 2014. The FCA will be looking to managers to confirm they have arrangements in hand as part of their application for authorisation.
Since the firm’s authorisation back in January, INDOS has been engaged by a broad range of managers covering different strategies across a number of fund administrators. A number of other managers have waited for confirmation that we hold all the necessary permissions and we expect several more firms will now move forward with INDOS. The authorisation to perform the Article 21(8)(b) verification of other assets duty is particularly important since managers have found it a challenge to identify providers willing and able to undertake this duty.
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