Gibraltar is a popular jurisdiction for investment funds and their managers, offering robust fund legislation, favourable tax advantages, within an EU framework, efficient regulation, the flexibility of a small jurisdiction and quality infrastructure. Gibraltar’s main attraction to investors is as an EU domicile, which provides entry to the single market in financial services, thereby enabling passporting throughout the member states of the EU.
The Experienced Investor Fund (EIF) regulations were introduced in August 2005. An EIF is an authorised collective investment scheme exclusively for investment by experienced investors and is designed to invest in a wide range of traditional or alternative asset classes. No regulatory approval is required before a fund can begin to raise capital and commence with its investment activities. A fund may be launched based on a legal opinion that confirms that the fund has met all legal and structural requirements for its operations, and provided that the fund’s documentation is submitted to the regulator for registration within 10 business days of its launch.
A Gibraltar fund may also be licensed in accordance with the EU laws on UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) where the intention of the fund is: to operate with the sole object of collective investment in transferable securities or in any other liquid financial assets; raise capital from the public and invest on the principles of risk-spreading; issue units which are at the request of holders redeemed, directly or indirectly, out of those assets.
The EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) was transposed into Gibraltar law on 22 July 2013 and investment management firms that fall within the Directive can avail themselves of the European passport and market across EU member states.