The base own funds requirement is:
EUR 125,000 for a firm that is a UCITS management company or a full-scope UK AIFM that is an external AIFM; and
EUR 300,000 for a full-scope UK AIFM that is an internally managed AIF.
[Note: article 9(1), (2) and (10) of AIFMD and article 7(1)(a) of the UCITS Directive]
The funds under management requirement is (subject to a maximum of EUR 10,000,000) the sum of:
the base own funds requirement; plus
0.02% of the amount by which the funds under management exceed EUR 250,000,000,
[Note: article 9(3) of AIFMD and article 7(1)(a)(i) of the UCITS Directive]
A firm must hold own funds of at least one quarter of the fixed overheads of the preceding year.
A firm must calculate its fixed overheads using the methodology for calculating relevant expenditure in MIFIDPRU 4.5 (Fixed overheads requirement).
A firm that has not been in business for one year may use its projected fixed overheads in accordance with the approach in MIFIDPRU 4.5.11R.
A full-scope UK AIFM should:
cover the professional liability risks set out in article 12 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation (professional liability risks) (as replicated in IPRU-INV 11.3.12UK) by either:
maintaining an amount of own funds in line with article 14 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation (additional own funds) (as replicated in IPRU-INV 11.3.14UK) (the professional negligence capital requirement); or
holding professional indemnity insurance and maintaining an amount of own funds to meet the PII capital requirement under article 15 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation (professional indemnity insurance) (as replicated in IPRU-INV 11.3.15UK) and IPRU-INV 11.3.16R; and
comply with the qualitative requirements addressing professional liability risks in article 13 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation (qualitative requirements addressing professional liability risks) (as replicated in IPRU-INV 11.3.13UK).
The professional liability risks to be covered pursuant to the UK legislation that implemented Article 9(7) of Directive 2011/61/EU shall be risks of loss or damage caused by a relevant person through the negligent performance of activities for which the AIFM has legal responsibility.
Professional liability risks as defined in paragraph 1 shall include, without being limited to, risks of:
loss of documents evidencing title of assets of the AIF;
misrepresentations or misleading statements made to the AIF or its investors;
acts, errors or omissions resulting in a breach of:
legal and regulatory obligations;
duty of skill and care towards the AIF and its investors;
fiduciary duties;
obligations of confidentiality;
AIF rules or instruments of incorporation;
terms of appointment of the AIFM by the AIF;
failure to establish, implement and maintain appropriate procedures to prevent dishonest, fraudulent or malicious acts;
improperly carried out valuation of assets or calculation of unit/share prices;
losses arising from business disruption, system failures, failure of transaction processing or process management.
Professional liability risks shall be covered at all times either through appropriate additional own funds determined in accordance with Article 14 or through appropriate coverage of professional indemnity insurance determined in accordance with Article 15.
[Note: article 12 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation]
An AIFM shall implement effective internal operational risk management policies and procedures in order to identify, measure, manage and monitor appropriately operational risks including professional liability risks to which the AIFM is or could be reasonably exposed. The operational risk management activities shall be performed independently as part of the risk management policy.
An AIFM shall set up a historical loss database, in which any operational failures, loss and damage experience shall be recorded. This database shall record, without being limited to, any professional liability risks as referred to in Article 12(2) that have materialised.
Within the risk management framework the AIFM shall make use of its internal historical loss data and where appropriate of external data, scenario analysis and factors reflecting the business environment and internal control systems.
Operational risk exposures and loss experience shall be monitored on an ongoing basis and shall be subject to regular internal reporting.
An AIFM's operational risk management policies and procedures shall be well documented. An AIFM shall have arrangements in place for ensuring compliance with its operational risk management policies and effective measures for the treatment of non-compliance with these policies. An AIFM shall have procedures in place for taking appropriate corrective action.
The operational risk management policies and procedures and measurement systems shall be subject to regular review, at least on an annual basis.
An AIFM shall maintain financial resources adequate to its assessed risk profile.
[Note: article 13 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation]
This Article shall apply to AIFMs that choose to cover professional liability risks through additional own funds.
The AIFM shall provide additional own funds for covering liability risks arising from professional negligence at least equal to 0,01 % of the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed.
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 additional own funds requirement referred to in paragraph 2 shall be recalculated at the end of each financial year and the amount of additional own funds shall be adjusted accordingly.
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.
The FCA may authorise the AIFM to provide additional own funds lower than the amount referred to in paragraph 2 only if it is satisfied - on the basis of the historical loss data of the AIFM as recorded over an observation period of at least three years prior to the assessment - that the AIFM provides sufficient additional own funds to appropriately cover professional liability risks. The authorised lower amount of additional own funds shall be not less than 0,008 % of the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed by the AIFM.
The FCA may request the AIFM to provide additional own funds higher than the amount referred to in paragraph 2 if it is not satisfied that the AIFM has sufficient additional own funds to appropriately cover professional liability risks. The competent authority shall give reasons why it considers that the AIFM's additional own funds are insufficient.
[Note: article 14 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation]
This Article shall apply to AIFMs that choose to cover professional liability risks through professional indemnity insurance.
The AIFM shall take out and maintain at all times professional indemnity insurance that:
shall have an initial term of no less than one year;
shall have a notice period for cancellation of at least 90 days;
shall cover professional liability risks as defined in Article 12(1) and (2);
is taken out from an EU or non-EU undertaking authorised to provide professional indemnity insurance, in accordance with Union law or national law;
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 the UK legislation that implemented Article 9(1) and (3) of Directive 2011/61/EU.
The coverage of the insurance for an individual claim shall be equal to at least 0,7 % of the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed by the AIFM calculated as set out in the second subparagraph of Article 14(2).
The coverage of the insurance for claims in aggregate per year shall be equal to at least 0,9 % of the value of the portfolios of AIFs managed by the AIFM calculated as set out in the second subparagraph of Article 14(2).
The AIFM shall review the professional indemnity insurance policy and its compliance with the requirements laid down in this Article at least once a year and in the event of any change which affects the policy's compliance with the requirements in this Article
[Note: article 15 of the AIFMD level 2 regulation]
If a firm satisfies the requirement referred to in IPRU-INV 11.3.11G with professional indemnity insurance it must, in addition to maintaining an amount of own funds to cover any defined excess, hold adequate own funds to cover any exclusions in the insurance policy that would otherwise result in the firm having insufficient resources to cover liabilities arising. A firm may satisfy its requirements for professional indemnity insurance with a policy that also provides cover to one or more entities other than the firm, provided that the policy satisfies the conditions of the AIFMD level 2 regulation, exclusive of the cover provided to other entities.
For the purposes of this chapter, liquid assets are assets which:
are readily convertible to cash within one month; and
have not been invested in speculative positions.
Examples of liquid assets that are acceptable under IPRU-INV 11.3.17R include cash, readily realisable investments that are not held for short-term resale, and debtors.
[Note: article 9(8) of AIFMD]
