Scheme documents

Prospectus

You should file a copy of your fund's original prospectus, together with all revisions to it.

This includes updates to the prospectus that don't require our approval – see COLL 4.2.3R(1) (b) of the Collective Investment Schemes sourcebook.

Key investor information document/simplified prospectus/NURS KII / PRIIPS KID

Where applicable, you should file the initial key investor information document/simplified prospectus/NURS KII/PRIIPS KID, together with each subsequent revision.

Report and accounts

You should send us annual and half yearly reports – see COLL 4.5.14R(2)(d)/4.5.15R(1)(b).

Final notifications

After we have approved a proposed change, you should use Form FN[1] to notify us that the change has been made. We will then update our records and the Financial Services Register[2], where applicable.

If the change is one of those listed in COLL 6.9.11R, you must notify us no later than 14 days after it has happened.

Please note that the FS Register won’t be updated until we have received the Form FN.

For termination of sub-funds, we require the Form FN, termination accounts and confirmation from the depositary that the termination of the sub-fund is complete.

If you are the AFM of a receiving UCITS, because of a ‘domestic UCITS merger’, you must notify us immediately when that merger has happened.

You should also send us copies of any updated instrument of incorporation or executed supplemental trust deed, prospectus and key investor information document/simplified prospectus/NURS KII with the Form FN[1].

UCITS certificates

To request a UCITS attestation or UCITS Tax Letter, you should email the responses to the below, to [email protected] along with the subject heading '[scheme name] UCITS Attestation request':

• the Scheme name and PRN
• who is the Authorised Fund Manager  
• the latest dates of the Prospectus and KIIDs that have been received by the FCA, if required
• the purpose of your request, i.e Tax reclaim, annual attestation for cross border marketing
• confirmation that the scheme has always been a UCITS – if not then the date the scheme became a UCITS is required

Please note that the deadline for this request should also factor in our 10-working day response requirement. 

UCITS Certificates will only be issued as at the time of request and will not be back dated to include previous years. 

Model portfolios

We require sight of a model portfolio for any new funds or where changes are being made to the current portfolio as a result in the change in the funds policy/strategy.

In order for us to be able to assess this effectively the portfolio provided should contain the following information for each individual asset as a minimum:

• name of asset
• ISIN or other applicable reference
• asset class (e.g. equity, Emerging Market equity, High Yield Bond etc)
• asset type (e.g. transferable security, collective investment scheme etc)
• domicile of asset
• country exposure (if a global portfolio)
• percentage of portfolio per asset
• where the fund has an ESG strategy identification of the scoring (if applicable) or rational for the holding being included with reference to the ESG strategy.

Where there are multiple investment managers responsible for different proportions you should submit separate portfolios for each investment manager and then a combined portfolio bringing all of the investment manager’s assets together.

We may ask for additional information on aspects of the portfolio.

Our forms ask for confirmation that portfolio modelling and stress testing have been carried out to verify the ability of the strategy to achieve the objectives, and for details of the testing that has been undertaken.

We are looking for details on the market scenarios and stress testing that have been carried out, who has undertaken the testing, and what the outcomes were. 

You need to demonstrate whether the investment strategy meets the objectives of the fund and whether the fund is going to deliver a return in line with an investor’s expectations.

Testing should be appropriate to the fund. We would not expect a full value at risk assessment for a passive equity fund, or a simple investment limit check for a complex derivatives fund. We want to see that you are satisfied that, at launch and on-going, the fund will be invested within the objective criteria. This could include testing the liquidity levels to ensure liabilities can be met, without adversely affecting the ability of the fund to meet the objectives.

It’s important that sufficient detail is provided. For example, the following brief statements don’t provide sufficient detail for these purposes:

• 'modelling has been undertaken for a period of time, during which market fluctuations have been experienced'
• 'the fund is a clone of an existing fund'
• 'we undertake scenario tests on a regular basis, including stress, liquidity and VaR testing'

We would expect to see how the portfolio aligns with the fund’s investment policy. So, as a minimum, we also expect details of the following:

• For global portfolios, the percentage of the portfolio allocated to each relevant country.  
• Percentage of the overall portfolio allocated to each asset class.  
• Split between direct and indirect exposure 

We have also provided an Authorised fund applications – our expectations document (PDF)[3] setting out FCA expectations when making applications for UK authorised funds. 

Naming conventions

When sending documents to us, you should only send 1 email per scheme.