Jersey Finance welcomes encouraging mid-year figures

Friday 15 September 2017

The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC), has released figures which show an increase in alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) marketing into Europe through Jersey’s national private placement regimes (NPPRs).

As of 30 June 2017, 131 AIFMs have been authorised in Jersey to market into Europe through NPPRs under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) – a 14% increase on last June.

According to the JFSC, there has also been a “strong uptake” in the Jersey Private Fund (JPF) regime - the latest addition to Jersey’s suite of fund structuring options – which was launched in April.

The JPF was introduced earlier this year to provide sophisticated investors with a more streamlined and fast-track regime, under which funds for up to 50 investors could be established in as little as 48 hours.

As of the end of August of this year, there were 44 JPFs – the majority of which being newly created fund vehicles.

Geoff Cook, CEO Jersey Finance, believes the figures show that private placement continues to give fund managers a good option for marketing funds into the EU: “The clear indication is that, although there is a lot of talk about AIFMD passporting, private placement is giving non-EU fund managers a really reliable, straightforward and efficient route for marketing alternative funds into Europe."

Pictured: Geoff Cook, CEO of Jersey Finance, welcomes these mid-year figures.

“It’s stable, it’s cost-effective and it’s tried and tested and, against a complex geopolitical backdrop in Europe, that’s a really attractive proposition for fund managers right across the private equity, real estate, hedge and infrastructure fund asset classes.” 

Commenting on the strong uptake in Jersey’s new JPF vehicle, Mike Byrne, Chairman, Jersey Funds Association, added: “In the four months since the JPF was brought to market, this is a really encouraging initial uptake, and it’s particularly pleasing that more than 80% of JPFs are brand new funds."

Pictured: Mike Byrne, Chairman of Jersey Funds Association hails the "strong uptake" of the JPF as "particularly pleasing".

“At the outset, we felt that there was real demand for this type of structure amongst institutional and professional investors across the alternative asset classes, and the figures support this view. In addition, we have also seen a positive reaction from family offices, who are using the new regime for co-investment purposes and to pool investments from multiple families.”