NZX-listed property manager, Augusta Capital, has beat the 2016 rush to enter the managed investment scheme (MIS) regime, joining the licensed ranks last week.
The MIS queue is expected to be hit by a log-jam of investment managers over the next few months in readiness for the December 1 final transition date. All NZ fund managers wishing to operate post-deadline will require an MIS licence as described under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC).
Augusta, the 13th entity to achieve MIS status and the first for 2016, boasts about $1.3 billion under management across its predominately syndicated property investments.
According to an FMA spokesperson, another manager has since been granted an MIS licence (although not yet listed on the regulator’s website) with a further 17 in the pipeline.
The spokesperson said while it was impossible to put a hard figure on the final number of MIS managers, about 100 entities “potentially” could make the transition.
“One of the interesting things about licensing a group for the first time is that we will get to see more clearly what the industry looks like,” the FMA spokesperson said.
In addition to meeting strict licensing conditions, MIS managers are also required to file a long list of official documents – including the new-fangled product disclosure statement (PDS), which replaces the pre-FMC prospectus – on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) ‘Disclose’ website.
To date, only eight MIS managers have filed scheme documents on Disclose.
However, James Hartley, MBIE head of financial markets policy, said anecdotal evidence suggested the document production rate was about to pick up.
“I’ve been hearing from lawyers in the industry that they’re getting underway [with MIS and Disclose compliance work],” Hartley said. “They don’t want to leave it all until the last minute.”
He said so far the Disclose system was working smoothly with only a few technical “niggles” popping up along the way.
Last week Disclose also enabled MIS managers to upload scheme and fund data directly to the website. By March this year managers should also be able to supply the tightly-templated data to Disclose via an automated information exchange system.