Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I will rehearse paragraphs from my Second Stage speech which deal with the different vehicles of investment as this may clarify matters for the Senator. In 1989 EC regulations on undertakings for collective investments on transferable securities, UCITS, were signed into law, transposing the relevant EU directive which makes provision for collective investment vehicles capable of being sold throughout the European Union. In the ensuing years a number of other types of fund vehicles were legislated for and existing law was updated so that today the funds industry can offer its products through entities established under the Unit Trust Act 1990, Part 13 of the Companies Act 1990, the Investment Limited Partnership Act 1994 or the 2003 EU regulations on undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities which include four amending regulations.

With a view to providing the greatest flexibility to the funds industry while at the same time keeping appropriate controls in place, the Bill makes a number of changes to the existing law. It provides for the introduction of a new type of investment fund vehicle which is the non-UCITS common contractual fund. It also provides for the introduction of cross investment and segregated liability.