Learn how to apply to us to be a small registered UK Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM), including SEF and RVECA managers.
AIFMs need to be authorised by us or registered with us. Read this page if you're applying to be registered, or our separate page if you're applying to be an authorised AIFM[1].
If you're not sure whether you need to be authorised or registered, answer the questions below.
Application and annual fees
Your application fee[9] falls into pricing category 3.
You'll also be subject to a periodic (annual fee[10]) of £781.
Read more about how we calculate your annual fee[11] and how to pay it[12].
How to apply
You must use our online system Connect[13] to apply to be registered as any of the following:
1. An internally managed, closed-ended investment company (such as an investment trust)
This will apply if the Board of the AIF has chosen not to appoint an external AIFM – in other words, if you're both the firm and the fund: the AIFM and the AIF.
2. A small property UK AIFM (ie an external manager of certain property funds)
This will apply if your AIF is a Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) that holds the majority of its assets as land (directly or indirectly). In this case, you must appoint a fund operator with the Part 4A permission of ‘establishing, operating or winding up a collective investment scheme'.
3. A manager of Social Entrepreneurship Funds (SEF) or Registered Venture Capital Funds (RVECA)
If you're a manager wishing to use the SEF or RVECA label for a fund, you'll need to demonstrate what most of the investments in the fund are for (see below).
Under the amended Venture Capital Funds regulations[17], both internally managed RVECA/SEF managers and external managers of RVECA/SEF must have an initial capital of €50,000. Own funds shall at all times amount to at least one eighth of the fixed overheads incurred by the manager in the preceding year. Other conditions also apply for both types of fund.
Our register of small registered UK AIFMs below includes UK managers of SEFs and RVECA funds.
What to include
Before submitting your application, make sure you've prepared:
- your regulatory business plan and the other things we expect to see in all applications[15]
- materially complete marketing material
- incorporation documents relating to the AIF
- an offer document for each AIF
- the relevant required forms and your financial forecast (see below)
Register of small registered UK AIFMs
Our register lists all current and lapsed small registered UK AIFMs that we've recorded since November 2013.
