IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Nicholas Blake-Knox, Jonathan Sheehan, Damien Barnaville and Joe Mitchell, Walkers
2.3.2 Requirements for Non-Local Service Providers Whether alternative funds or retail funds, Irish investment funds must have an Irish-domiciled depositary and administrator, regulated and supervised by the Central Bank. While Irish investment funds structured as invest - ment companies and ICAVs may be self-man - aged, there has been a move towards funds that are externally managed by an AIFM, in the case of an AIF. A non-Irish AIFM based in the EU can manage Irish investment funds if it has made the requisite application to the competent authority in its home member state. Non-EU AIFMs can also manage Irish funds, subject to compliance with certain requirements. However, the AIFMD marketing passport is not available to non-EU AIFMs, and Irish AIFs with non-EU AIFMs may only be offered in Europe under the available national private placement regimes. ELTIFs are required to be managed by an EU AIFM, but the AIFM can delegate portfolio management to an investment manager outside of the EU. A person must be approved by the Central Bank to act as a director of an Irish regulated entity or of a general partner of an ILP. The process involves submitting an individual questionnaire to the Central Bank for consideration. Direc - tors and other individuals performing controlled functions, such as persons selected to act as designated persons for an AIFM, are required to comply with the requirements of the Central Bank’s fitness and probity regime as well as the common and additional conduct standards introduced under the Individual Accountability Framework. If an investment fund is self-man - aged, the Central Bank’s fund management companies guidance (FMC Guidance) will apply, which includes a broad range of governance requirements. Where the investment fund has
appointed an external AIFM, the requirements of the FMC Guidance will apply to the AIFM, other than the section relating to externally managed funds. Prime brokers may be appointed to provide ser - vices directly to an AIF and, provided that their services do not constitute discretionary portfolio management, which typically they would not, are not required to obtain any separate funds-related regulatory approval to provide these services to an Irish AIF. Irish investment funds are required to file any material contracts entered into by the fund with the Central Bank. 2.3.3 Local Regulatory Requirements for Non- Local Managers The approval process for a discretionary invest - ment manager depends on the entity’s country of establishment. An Irish investment fund may typically only delegate investment manage - ment services to an entity that is authorised or registered for the purpose of asset manage - ment and subject to prudential supervision in its home jurisdiction. In addition, there must be supervisory co-operation between the Central Bank and the supervisory authority in the enti - ty’s home jurisdiction, which generally takes the form of a memorandum of understanding or a co-operation agreement between the jurisdic - tions. The Central Bank has accepted the follow - ing jurisdictions as having a comparable regu - latory regime to Ireland: Abu Dhabi, Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Dubai, Guernsey, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Jersey, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom. A fast-track application is available to entities that are based in the EU and authorised as an investment firm under MiFID to provide portfo -
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