Walkers Ireland LLP is delighted to be the featured premium sponsor of Irish Funds during the month of June. As a leading law firm in the asset management and investment funds industry, we offer expert advice and commercial solutions to many of the world's most prominent asset managers, fund promoters and institutional investors. To create awareness of the latest legal and regulatory developments and how these affect our clients we frequently publish updates and thought leadership including our quarterly legal and regulatory developments report covering a wide range of topics. Our latest publications are as follows:

Quarterly Legal and Regulatory Developments

On a quarterly basis we publish our eagerly awaited report detailing the most important and topical asset management and investment funds legal and regulatory developments ("QLRD") during the period. In addition to the QLRD which we make available publicly, we provide our clients with a more detailed report on a quarterly basis as well as monthly and ad hoc updates on relevant developments.

Sustainable Finance 

Sustainable finance continues to be a key focus for funds and their managers. There are a number of proposals at various stages in the European legislative process, our latest advisories and videos on this topic consider the key proposals and look at the trends we identified in our analysis of a selection of sustainability disclosures published by leading asset managers.

Investment Limited Partnership Advisory Series 

While the investment limited partnership is not a new fund product, the enhancements to the existing regime, which became effective in February and March 2021, have led to increased interest in this structure as an option when considering the establishment of a new investment fund. We recently advised on the establishment of a qualifying investor AIF structured as an ILP. Our advisory series considers the key features, typical asset classes and service providers for this structure as well as providing an overview of the authorisation process and the issue of investor liability. Please also see our recent video outlining the key features of the ILP.

Fund Liquidity Management 

There has been an increased focus by regulators on fund liquidity management with the Central Bank recently setting out its expectations for fund management companies on this matter in its Securities Markets Risk Outlook Report. Our recent advisory provides an overview of the key guidance issued from the Central Bank, ESMA, IOSCO and the ESRB including a timeline relating to this guidance.

AIFMD Update

Proposals to amend AIFMD were published in November 2021 with delegation, liquidity risk management and loan origination being some of the key issues on which amendments are being proposed.