New Fund Category L-QIF - Entry Into Force On 1 March 2024

On 31 January 2024, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the amended Collective Investment Schemes Ordinance (CISO), bringing the legal basis for the Limited Qualified Investor Fund (L-QIF) into force as of 1 March 2024. The L-QIF is a new fund category introduced as part of the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) revision of 17 December 2021 exclusively for qualified investors, which is exempt from the authorization and approval requirement. With the implementation of L-QIF, Switzerland aims to promote the innovative capacity of Switzerland as a fund location and strengthen its competitiveness.

1. Introduction

The possible legal forms for an L-QIF are the contractual investment fund, the investment company with variable capital (SICAV), and the limited partnership for collective investment (LP). The L-QIF is based on the Luxembourg legislation on the Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF). While certain risk diversification principles apply to the RAIF