UCITS IV: The Next Phase In The Evolution Of UCITS

Introduction

UCITS IV is the latest step in the European Commission's UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) project to create a genuine pan-European single market for investment funds. The UCITS project has certainly been successful: UCITS represent about 75% of the EU investment fund market with assets under management amounting to around €6 trillion. One of the primary aims of the draft UCITS IV Directive is that fund management firms would be able to pool and market funds more freely and easily through the twenty seven Member States of the European Union ultimately leading to significant cost reductions for the industry and the investor.

To date, however, the road towards a new UCITS IV Directive has not been smooth. The draft UCITS IV Directive had originally been scheduled for publication no later than 30 April, 2008 but was not actually published until the 16th of July of this year. The most radical proposal, the