On 15 February 2013, the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) published updated versions of its UCITS (undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities) Notices and Guidance Notes.

The updated documents were produced to reflect the European Securities Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Guidelines on ETFs (exchange traded funds) and other UCITS issues (the “ESMA Guidelines”) as issued on 18 December 2012 and effective from 18 February 2013. The Central Bank’s Application Forms will also be amended to reflect the ESMA Guidelines.

Further amendments were made to the UCITS Notices on 28 March 2013 as follows:

  • UCITS Notice 10, paragraph 22: a reference to “leveraged” has been included so it is clear that the paragraph applies to leveraged index tracking UCITS; and

  • UCITS Notice 12, paragraph 14: the eligibility criteria for counterparties to enter into repurchase/reverse repurchase and securities lending agreements have been reinserted as they were omitted in error.

Each of the amended UCITS Notices, Guidance Notes and the Application Forms are available to download from the Central Bank’s website.

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