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With six months to go, fund managers should be ramping up their
preparations for complying with the legislative changes to EU
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”),
commonly referred to as “AIFMD 2.0”, which will come into
effect on 16 April 2026. The majority of the changes will apply to
EU authorised alternative investment fund managers (“EU
AIFMs”), but there will be elements of AIFMD 2.0 that will
also apply to non‑EU AIFMs.
Several key regulatory components to AIFMD 2.0 remain
outstanding, as summarised below.
In this update, we outline what’s still to come. This is the
first publication in the AIFMD 2.0 Digest series,
which will feature articles and podcasts on AIFMD 2.0.
For more detailed background on AIFMD 2.0, see our earlier
insights:
Liquidity Management Tools – finalised Regulatory
Technical Standards
Under AIFMD 2.0 an EU AIFM must select and use at least two
liquidity management tools (LMTs) for each open‑ended fund
they manage. The European Supervisory Markets Authority
(“ESMA”) delivered its Final Report with the
draft regulatory technical standards (“RTS”) on
liquidity management tools on 15 April 2025, and sent them to the
European Commission (the “Commission”) for adoption. The
Commission normally has three months (extendable by one) for
adoption, but this has slipped beyond the initial summer window.
We’re therefore still awaiting the Commission’s formal
adoption and publication of the LMTs RTS in the Official
Journal.
Open‑ended loan‑originating AIFs ‑ finalised
Regulatory Technical Standards
ESMA previously consulted on the RTS that will
set the requirements allowing a loan‑originating AIF to
operate as open‑ended. This covered the liquidity framework,
liquid asset buffers, stress testing and redemption policy. ESMA
signalled that its final report and submission to the Commission on
these areas would be made in Q3/Q4 2025, but this is yet to happen.
In October 2025, the European Commission published a letter
announcing it would not adopt non‑essential Level 2 acts
before 1 October 2027, at the earliest. “Level 2 acts”
refers to delegated or implementing legislation in the EU that
provides technical and operational details for a “Level 2
act”, such as AIFMD. The list of deprioritised/delayed Level 2
acts included the RTS for loan‑originating funds to maintain
and operate an open‑ended structure. It remains to be seen if
EU Member States will introduce requirements for loan originating
funds which are open‑ended ahead of the delayed RTS. EU AIFMs
of open‑ended loan‑originating AIFs should closely
monitor developments in this area.
Member State Implementation
AIFMD 2.0 is an EU Directive which means that national laws and
supervisory materials must be updated by 16 April 2026, to
implement the AIFMD 2.0 into the local law of each Member State.
Some jurisdictions have already started to develop their approach:
for example, Ireland’s Department of Finance has set out
decisions on national discretions, and the Central Bank has flagged
rulebook updates, but the full implementation into local law
remains outstanding in key EU Member States.
Annex IV Reporting – due April 2027
The enhanced Annex IV (Article 24) supervisory reporting goes
live with AIFMD 2.0, but ESMA’s new reporting RTS and
implementing technical standards, which will reshape the templates
(including delegation data), are due by 16 April 2027. That means
the new reporting content arrives in 2026 while the fully refreshed
templates follow a year later. These changes will be relevant to
non‑EU AIFMs marketing their funds in the EU, as well as EU
AIFMs.
What’s Next?
Fund managers currently within the scope of AIFMD, and
specifically EU AIFMs, should monitor:
- The European Commission’s adoption of ESMA’s RTS on
liquidity management tools; - Additional guidance from ESMA on loan origination and liquidity
risk; and - National implementation measures across EU Member States.
As the close of 2025 is on the horizon and April 2026 will
arrive soon enough, the focus is shifting from legislative drafting
to operational readiness, despite the gaps above. EU AIFMs, and
fund structures that utilise EU AIFMs, should continue reviewing
delegation frameworks, updating fund documentation and aligning
liquidity management processes with the evolving regulatory
expectations.
For further information, please contact ukreg@proskauer.com – and look out for
further features in our AIFMD 2.0 Digest
series.
AIFMD 2.0: What’s To Come With Six Months To
Go
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.