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28 January 2000
OPEN-ENDED INVESTMENT COMPANY REGULATIONS
Draft regulations governing the incorporation and regulation of open-ended investment companies ("oeics") are published today.
The regulations are provided for in the Financial Services and Markets Bill, currently before Parliament. They will facilitate a wider range of investment activities for oeics than can currently be undertaken by these companies. They will allow for the conversion of many authorised unit trusts into oeics, and for the creation of new oeics investing in a wider variety of assets than is possible at present.
These measures will significantly improve the choice of investment products for savers, and oeics will play an important role in the development of pooled pension investments (ppis), which can be used for stakeholder pensions when these are introduced from April 2001.
Details of the permitted investment activities for oeics will be determined by new FSA regulations. A draft will be published later this year for consultation.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The draft regulations are available by clicking on the link below.
Printed copies of the draft regulations can be obtained on 0171 270 5292.
The launch of pooled pensions investments in April 2001 was announced by Melanie Johnson, Economic Secretary in Treasury press release 127/99 on 2 August 1999.
Media enquiries should be addressed to Charles Keseru at the Treasury press office on 0171 270 5188.