The Securities Commission of The Bahamas has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) under the European Union’s (EU) Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) with the securities regulators of Cyprus, Austria and Spain.
The Commission’s Chairman, Mrs. Tonya Bastian-Galanis, signed the agreements on the regulator’s behalf and this now brings the total number of AIMFD MoUs executed by the Commission to 27. The agreements allow Bahamas based Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs) to manage and market alternative investment funds (AIFs) in markets supervised by co-signatory regulators. The MoUs also allow European based fund managers to manage and market Bahamas based AIFs in markets where the fund managers’ European regulator has entered into an AIFMD MoU with the Commission.
The AIMFD is a directive of the European Parliament and Council; its aim is to create a comprehensive framework for the regulation of alternative investment fund managers within the EU. AIFs include hedge funds, private equity funds, and real estate funds.
The Commission is pursuing arrangements with counterpart regulators from the remaining EU member states. All of the AIFMD MoUs signed by the Commission can be found [here](http://www.scb.gov.bs/cooperation.html).
The Commission regulates the investment fund, securities, and capital markets in The Bahamas.