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Indos Financial extends FCA licence to become full UK depositary

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Indos Financial, the UK independent depositary, has secured approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to extend its Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) depositary permissions to become a full depositary.

The move represents the first such authorisation of a non-bank entity in the UK since AIFMD was introduced in 2014. 
 
The permissions build upon the firm's depositary-lite business servicing non-EU funds as well as its UK private equity, real estate and debt fund business. In less than three years this business has grown to comprise 70 funds across 56 managers and USD14 billion of assets.
 
The extended permissions will enable Indos to act for a broader range of UK domiciled funds such as the UK investment trust market, much of which has traditionally been served by banking groups providing a bundled service of depositary, custody and fund administration.
 
Bill Prew (pictured), CEO of Indos Financial, says: “As a specialist independent depositary, becoming a full depositary was a natural extension for the Indos business. Our growth to date highlights demand across the industry for depositary services that are independent from other service providers to the fund. We have responded to a clear gap in the UK alternative funds market for an independent depositary that has a full suite of regulatory permissions and the flexibility to act for a diverse range of funds.
 
"We have already won our first full depositary mandate in the UK and expect several more to follow over the coming months. The timing of the authorisation also positions us to capitalise from depositary provider changes we expect to occur due to the AIFMD depositary derogation, whereby UK funds using non-UK depositaries will need to appoint a UK depositary, coming to an end in July 2017." 

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