Regulatory Prohibitions/Exchange Controls

It should not be forgotten that some countries continue to impose foreign exchange and other controls that effectively prevent residents from investing in any kind of offshore fund. In Western Europe, Greece is the only country to retain some form of exchange control. However, for comparison purposes only, in the Middle East, such restrictions apply in Israel and Saudi Arabia; South Africa has particularly strict controls; and certain Central and South American countries have similar restrictions. For instance, Mexican laws prohibit investment in any non-Mexican funds and provide that only Mexican institutions and brokers may deal in securities.

Nevertheless, in practice, investors resident in such countries may be permitted to invest in overseas funds—for example, if they have access to legitimate funds outside of the local jurisdiction and the transaction takes place offshore. Read more »

Posted: February 6th, 2008 under Future Fund.
Comments: 6

A Limited Group of Investors

Usually, an exemption is available from public offer registration and disclosure requirements if the fund targets only professional investors. However, the definition of ‘professional investor’ varies and is not always precisely defined. Some countries also permit marketing to ‘sophisticated‘ investors or ‘members of a restricted circle’. Sophisticated investors are not usually defined at all and the interpretation of what constitutes sophisticated is more a matter of convention, left to the discretion of the authorities concerned. A ‘restricted circle’ usually means a group of persons who have some connection, for example, as members of a club or possibly clients of a bank or broker. Read more »

Posted: February 6th, 2008 under Future Broker, Future Fund, Future Investing, Future Management.
Comments: 4

Europe is taken here to mean those countries loosely bound together geographically as Europe, rather than necessarily members of the EC. The countries covered include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland (the Republic of), Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

The majority of the EC countries covered have no legislation for domestic managed futures funds and so where that is the case, the information given relates to the marketing of offshore managed futures funds within that jurisdiction. Read more »

Posted: February 6th, 2008 under Future Fund, Managed Futures.
Comments: 3