Is it possible that FAIFs could become passported for sale in the EU in the near future?
Because they-re in the NURS regime, no. What we have in Europe at the moment is a patchwork of funds of funds regimes. None of them are passported at the moment. NURS means Non-UCITS Retail Scheme – it can-t be passported as a UCITS, but because it is a retail scheme it can be marketed to private individuals in the UK. It is what the FSA thinks is okay to market to retail customers, but not where there is an agreement in Europe. We then get into the debate of whether or not we need a fund of funds directive, a UCITS for funds of hedge funds, but there’s no appetite for that kind of legislation at the Commission level. They have had an asset management consultation paper, and it didn’t emerge from that. THFJ: Do you think a minimum investment level will be set for the new FAIF? That’s not something the FSA seems to regard as a particularly effective means of regulation. I don’t foresee that, and I don’t think they’ve consulted on that. THFJ: What about the tax issue? The other interesti
