Gibraltar could benefit from a change to Luxembourg law, which has slowed down the launch of specialised investment funds in the Grand Duchy.

On 6 March 2012, the Luxembourg parliament passed a bill of law amending the Luxembourg law of 13 February 2007 on specialised investment funds (SIF). It is now no longer possible to launch SIF prior to the approval of Luxembourg Supervisory Commission of Financial Sector making launch of a fund slower.  



James Lasry (pictured), Head of Funds at Hassans, International Law Firm in Gibraltar, says: "As a result of the new Luxembourg law that removes the possibility for fund to launch before receiving formal authorisation from the Regulator (a process that often takes about three months), Gibraltar emerges as the fund jurisdiction within the European Union that has the quickest potential time to market for a fund.

“Under the Gibraltar Experienced Investor Fund (EIF) regime, a fund can launch on the basis of opinion from senior Gibraltar counsel stating that the fund has been set up in accordance with the EIF Regulations can launch provided that within 14 days of that launch it notifies the Regulator with copies of all the documents.



“The Regulator in Gibraltar has a plethora of regulatory powers in respect of funds which makes their oversight of this sector quite robust. Gibraltar, being a small jurisdiction with strong communication between the service providers in the industry allows the Regulator to work under this regime just as Luxembourg was able to since 2007, when it introduced its SIF regime, until now”.