Getting ready for Brexit

Following the EU referendum in 2016, M&G acted to minimise disruption to our clients, protect their interests and provide certainty and clarity where we could, regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.

We have built a new international hub in Luxembourg: a fully licensed and operational business distributing traditional and alternative funds and servicing our investors in Europe, Asia and America.

We completed the migration of assets for most non-UK investors from our UK OEIC (Open-Ended Investment Company) range to our Luxembourg SICAV funds in March 2019. Since then, EU and international investors in our funds have been serviced through our Luxembourg hub, while UK investors continue to be serviced in London.

Our Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) were already largely domiciled in either Luxembourg or Ireland. The operation of these will now be managed by our Luxembourg hub.

In short, yes.

For EU and other international investors in SICAV mutual funds and AIFs, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the National Competent Authorities (NCAs) have confirmed that the Memorandums of Understanding enabling continued delegation of portfolio management activities will be valid from 1 January 2021.

For our existing EU clients who have appointed M&G Investments Management Limited (MAGIM) to manage their segregated or advisory mandates, we are putting in place a number of arrangements to ensure that we can continue to provide these services. This includes expanding the regulatory permissions of our EU-based entities, as well as the passporting of those permissions to the relevant EU-jurisdictions.

It is unlikely that UK-domiciled funds will retain their ‘Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities’ (UCITS) status. This, along with the fact that with the UK exiting the EU the funds will no longer be domiciled or registered in the EU, could have implications for EU investors, including tax consequences.

We are in the process of contacting clients domiciled outside the UK who remain invested in the M&G Global Themes Fund and other smaller OEICs to explain their options. 

We are also aware of the news regarding some UK banks taking the decision to close UK bank accounts for customers living in certain EEA locations. If you are an EEA-domiciled client investing in one of our OEIC funds through a UK bank account and we haven’t contacted you yet, we will be doing so shortly. In the meantime, please get in touch with your bank to understand your options.

Please reach out to your distributor or regular contact at M&G if you want to further discuss these at any time.

If you are domiciled outside the UK and invested in one or more of our SICAVs, or if you are a UK-domiciled client investing in one of our OEICs, you don´t need to take any action.

The vast majority of our clients domiciled outside the UK are invested in our Luxembourg-domiciled SICAVs.

We are in the process of contacting clients domiciled outside the UK who remain invested in the M&G Global Themes Fund and other smaller OEICs to explain their options.

We are also aware of the news regarding some UK banks taking the decision to close UK bank accounts for customers living in certain EEA locations. If you are an EEA-domiciled client investing in one of our OEIC funds through a UK bank account and we haven’t contacted you yet, we will be doing so shortly. In the meantime, please get in touch with your bank to understand your options.

Please reach out to your distributor or regular contact at M&G if you want to further discuss these at any time.