Authorised and recognised funds

Investment funds that are structured as collective investment schemes (CIS) must be authorised or recognised by us to be promoted to retail investors in the UK. We explain these terms.

Authorised funds

An authorised fund, which may also be called an ‘authorised CIS’, must be established in the UK and take one of the following legal forms:

  • authorised contractual scheme (ACS)
  • authorised unit trust (AUT)
  • investment company with variable capital (ICVC)

It must also be classified, based on a marketing strategy, as one of the following:

  • undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities scheme (UCITS)
  • non-UCITS retail scheme (NURS)
  • qualified investor scheme (QIS)
  • long-term asset fund (LTAF)

Recognised funds

A fund that is established outside the UK must be recognised by us to be promoted to retail investors in the UK.

Funds established in countries other than the UK must be recognised under section 272 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) or entered into the temporary marketing permissions regime (TMPR). A recognised fund may also be called a 'recognised CIS' or 'overseas scheme'.

Scheme numbers

 

Stand-alone

Umbrella

Sub-funds

UK ACS

UCITS

0

5

59

NURS (non-UCITS retail scheme)

0

10

131

QIS (qualified investor scheme)

1

11

106

LTAF (Long Term Asset Fund) 0 3 5

UK AUTs

UCITS

464

20

131

NURS (non-UCITS retail scheme)

143

27

102

QIS (qualified investor scheme)

4

5

12

   

UK ICVCs

UCITS

71

339

1858

NURS (non-UCITS retail scheme)

114

145

685

QIS (qualified investor scheme)

10

6

8

LTAF (long term asset fund) 0 1 1

Overseas funds

UCITS (that are in the TMPR)

100

727

8144

Individually recognised (s272)

2

15

54