Authorised and recognised funds

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 under:

• section 272 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA)
• section 271A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) – the Overseas Funds Regime (OFR)
• the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime (TMPR)

A recognised fund may also be called a 'recognised CIS' or 'overseas scheme'. 

Scheme numbers

*We do not expect all the funds that are currently marketing in the UK under the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime (TMPR) to apply under the Overseas Funds Regime (OFR).