Launch of the ESMA Common Supervisory Action on Compliance and Internal Audit Functions of UCITS Management Companies and AIFMs

On 14 February 2025, 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 Compliance and Internal Audit Functions of UCITS Management Companies (“UCITS Managers”) and authorised Alternative Investment Funds Managers (“AIFMs”) across the European Union.

ESMA launches a Common Supervisory Action with NCAs on Compliance and Internal Audit Functions

The methodology used for this CSA was developed by ESMA with the objective of ensuring a common supervisory approach among NCAs.

The aim of the CSA is to investigate to what extent UCITS Managers and AIFMs have established effective compliance and internal audit functions with the adequate staffing, authority, knowledge and expertise to perform their duties under the AIFMD and UCITS Directive. The roles of compliance and internal audit functions are to ensure that effective internal control systems are established to monitor, detect, assess, and address potential risks of non-compliance with relevant regulations. As such, it is essential that supervised entities maintain robust internal controls.

In this context, the CSSF will launch by mid-June at the latest the first phase of the CSA by asking a sample of Luxembourg-based UCITS Managers and AIFMs to complete a questionnaire covering policies, procedures, measures relevant to functions, delegation, reporting to senior management, and internal control plans. The CSSF will contact by email the Luxembourg-based UCITS Managers and AIFMs that are in scope of this CSA by 11 April 2025. The UCITS Managers and AIFMs that will not receive an email from the CSSF on this subject matter are not concerned by this exercise. In this regard, the CSSF reminds the UCITS Managers and AIFMs that they must keep the email addresses of eDesk users and their corresponding roles up to date, so that specific communications reach the concerned persons.

In order to benefit from a secured exchange platform and pre-submission data quality checks, the response questionnaire will have to be submitted by the Luxembourg-based UCITS Managers and AIFMs through the CSSF’s eDesk Portal. For that purpose, a dedicated procedure to complete this questionnaire will be accessible on the eDesk.

The entities in the scope of the CSA will be duly informed by eDesk message once this section, together with additional guidance, will be available for use. Any complementary guidance from ESMA that may become available in that context will also be included in that user guide and updated accordingly.