Launch of the ESMA Common Supervisory Action on valuation of UCITS and open-ended AIFs
On 20 January 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched, in accordance with the announcement hereafter, a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) with national competent authorities (NCAs) on valuation of UCITS and open-ended AIFs (“CSA on valuation”) across the European Union:
The methodology of this CSA has been developed by ESMA with the objective to ensure a common supervisory approach among NCAs.
The aim of the CSA on valuation is to assess the compliance of supervised entities with the relevant valuation-related provisions in the UCITS and AIFMD frameworks in particular the valuation of less liquid assets. The work will be done using a common assessment framework developed by ESMA, which sets out the scope, methodology, supervisory expectations and timeline for how to carry out a comprehensive supervisory action in a convergent manner.
The CSA will focus on authorised investment fund managers of UCITS and open-ended AIFs investing in less liquid assets.
In this context, the CSSF will launch beginning of March 2022 the first phase of the CSA by asking a sample of UCITS and AIFs investment fund managers to complete a dedicated questionnaire for all UCITS and AIFs managed. A representative selection of Luxembourg-based UCITS and AIFs investment fund managers as well as a limited number of EU UCITS and AIF investment fund managers managing Luxembourg UCITS and AIFs will be contacted by the CSSF shortly in that context.
In order to benefit from a secured environment and pre-submission data quality checks, the response questionnaire will have to be submitted by the respective UCITS/AIFs investment fund managers through a dedicated communication channel set up by the CSSF. The channel mentioned above will be accessible in due time.
The industry will be duly informed once this communication channel, together with additional guidance, will be available for use. Any complementary guidance from ESMA that may become available in that context at a later stage will also be made available and the communication channel updated accordingly.