SAPIN II Law- Asset Management Rules Development

The SAPIN II law, adopted by the French Parliament on 8 November 2016, was published on 10 December 2016 after the Décision 2016-740 DC dated 8 December 2016 of the Conseil Constitutionnel (the French constitutional Court). This law includes several provisions which relate to asset management regulations, including, among others:

• measures related to the MiFID II implementation;
• a ban on advertisement to retail clients of certain CFDs Forex-related products and binary options;
• clarification of the legal regime of the Société de Libre Partenariat;
• clarification on the rules applicable to the origination of loans by French funds (see below the Decree n° 2016-1587);
• clarification of the French ELTIF regime.

Read the SAPIN II Law (in French).

Loan Origination by French Funds

Pursuant to the entry into force of the ELTIF Regulations, certain categories of French funds obtained the right to directly originate loans. However, the publication of a decree was required for this regime to be effective. The Décret n° 2016-1587 published on 26 November 2016 provides the legal regime applicable to loan origination by French Funds. Among others, and within the framework of the AMF Instruction n° 2016-02, the Décret details:

• that only French fonds professionnel de capital investissement and fonds professionnel spécialisé can originate loans;

• the type of loans that can be granted by French funds and their man characteristics; or

• the possible beneficiaries of such loans.

Read the Décret n° 2016-1587.

AMF Public Consultation - Terms for Implementing Gates in UCITS and AIFs

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the French financial markets authority, the “AMF”) published on 1 December 2016 a public consultation on the terms for implementing gates in UCITS and AIFs, following the entry into force of the SAPIN II law (see above), pursuant to which certain open-ended funds will be authorized to implement gates (until now, only the following funds could implement gates or restrictions on redemptions funds of alternative funds, professional investment funds and real estate collective investment undertakings (OPCIs)). The AMF wishes to determine the situations and conditions under which a fund may provide for redemptions to be provisionally gated when warranted by exceptional circumstances and if this is in the best interest of investors or the public

Read the AMF Public Consultation (in English).

Read the AMF Public Consultation (in French).

AMF Instructions Update - French "minibons"

Pursuant to the implementation under French law of the “minibon” (a category of note which can be issued by certain type of French entities) which can be marketed by, among others, French crowdfunding advisors (conseillers en investissements participatifs), the AMF has amended on 15 November 2016 the instructions related to such advisors in order to include the legal regime for the offer of such “minibon”.

Read the AMF communication (in French).

Read the AMF Instruction n° 2014-11 (in French).

Read the AMF Instruction n° 2014-12 (in French).

Decree - Thresholds of Investment Funds for the AMF Approval

The Décret n° 2016-1532 dated 15 November 2016 provides the minimum thresholds required for the AMF approval for certain funds. Pursuant to this Décret, the AMF should not approve any fonds d’investissement de proximité or fonds commun de placement dans l’innovation (retail private equity funds) managed by a management company in the event where (i) each of the retail funds managed within the last three years by that management company has not reached a minimum commitment of € 5 million and (ii) the total commitments of all private equity funds (both professional and retail) managed by such management company is lower than € 50 million.

Read the Décret (in French).