Important communication of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority concerning investment restrictions relevant to the investment funds market | Legal Alert

On 29 November 2017, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) published an important communication concerning investment restrictions applicable to the investment funds market.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority noted, inter alia, that legal norms concerning the achievement of a diversified structure of the investment portfolio within a certain time of the fund registration or sub-fund creation must not be viewed as a permission for investment funds, in the initial period of their activity, to be released from the obligation to mitigate investment risk the fund itself and its participants are exposed to.

A similar regime should be introduced in the period of 36 months prior to the starting date for fund liquidation as set out in the fund’s statutes – in such case, according to the communication issued by the KNF, the provisions of the Act on Investment Funds, under no circumstances release the fund manager from the obligation to procure that the exposure of Fund’s participants to risk related to the commitment of the fund’s assets to securities or other property rights issued by a single entity is immediately mitigated, as the fund’s participants have the right to expect that the fund will observe the principles of risk diversification set out in the Act and in the Fund’s statute.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority underlines that particularly condemnable is such situation where in case of an investment fund initially created for an indefinite term, during its operation the statute is amended with regard to the indication of the starting date for its liquidation, which is set within 36 months, and in parallel to the amendments to the statute the fund invests in new assets for which the fund’s commitment exceeds the limit set forth in Article 145(3) of the Act, at the level of 20% of the assets.

Should you be interested in discussing how the communication of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority may affect the activity of investment funds, including fund structures, please do not hesitate to contact us.

dr Szymon Okoń – Partner, Radca Prawny

Katarzyna Dymel – Associate, Radca Prawna