MiFID II - Investment Funds (FR)

The persons concerned by the Training Programme are all persons placed under the authority of a professional (or acting on his behalf) subject to prudential supervision by the CSSF, i.e.individuals providing investment advice (“Advisory profile”) or information (“Information profile”) on financial instruments, investment services or ancillary services to clients.

This module is part of the MiFID II Certification.

Based on the ISO definition of an investment fund specifying that an investment fund is a collective investment scheme based on a diversified portfolio of assets that is managed by a professional fund manager, the content of module 6 focuses on:

• Main characteristics of investment funds (based on ISO 10962)
  • Types of investment funds - Traditional “long only” funds (in Europe, UCITS funds), hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate funds, exchange-traded funds, funds of funds, pension funds, others
  • Attributes of investment funds - Open end/closed end funds, liquid assets/illiquid assets, asset type, level of regulation, incorporated/unincorporated, domicile, active/passive management, alternative management
  • Pricing of investment funds - NAV, negotiated price (ETFs)
  • Factors influencing the performance of investment funds - Price of the underlying assets, costs/revenues of the fund, leverage, performance of the fund manager, market situation
  • Costs associated with transactions and services involving investment funds - Sales charges (subscription/redemption fees), performance fees, administration fees, other fees (e.g., switching fees), commissions
• Structure of the market for investment funds
  • Types of markets (regulated, OTC) - Direct subscriptions/redemptions with the fund (through a distributor and the transfer agent), organised markets (exchanges, MTF, OTF, SI) for ETFs
  • Primary and secondary markets - Launching a fund (open- end/closed-end), primary market for funds on exchanges (primarily ETFs), normal fund operations (subscriptions/redemptions)
  • Market players - Fund manager, distributor, fund administrator (includes fund accountant, transfer agent, domiciliary agent), custodian/depositary, exchange and brokers (for ETFs), paying agent
• Financial instruments as investments
  • Market practice - Instrument with wide range of risk (from UCITS to hedge funds), collective investment, economies of scale, long-term savings instrument, low volatility, low fees
  • Main risks - Market risk, liquidity risk, credit risk, operational risk
  • Tax aspects - Withholding tax, capital gains tax, tax reclamation, subscription tax
  • Market forces that impact performance - Price of the underlying assets, volatility, liquidity, interest rates, currencies, macroeconomic factors
  • Understanding instrument’s performance - Value of the underlying assets, performance of the fund manager, costs/revenues of the fund, market perspective, volatility
  • Documentation related to the instrument - Prospectus (or offering/information memorandum), KIID, PRIIP, terms and conditions, fact sheets

Experienced professional specialists selected on the basis of their in-depth knowledge of markets and financial products under MiFID rules I and II, and ESMA criteria.

Course material: English

Assessment and Certification: English or French