It is a little over a year since Guernsey introduced its fast track approval process for closed-ended funds – the registered fund. It has already been a remarkable success. At the end of last month, 89 registered closed-ended investment funds had received consent under the new regime.
The idea behind the new regime was simple – a guaranteed three-day approval process for closed-ended funds. Such a short timescale was achieved by relieving the Guernsey Financial Services Commission of responsibility for checking the credentials of new promoters and reviewing fund documentation generally. Instead, the fund administrator must conduct all the checks previously conducted by the commission and then provide warranties to the commission that they have done so. Where the warranties provided subsequently prove to be inadequate, the commission will pursue the matter with the administrator and should not affect the approval granted to that fund.
