Approximate read time: 10 minutes
The Listed Investment Companies (Classification etc) Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat). The bill was introduced on 5 September 2024 and its second reading is due to take place on 15 November 2024.
The bill would require the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other relevant regulators to consider the characteristics and distinctions of listed closed-end investment companies (LCICs) compared to other fund types in the making of future policy.
Under the bill’s provisions, charges associated with the running of investment funds, including performance fees, would be recognised as deductions from a LCIC’s net asset value, rather than, as at present, also being portrayed as a deduction from the value of a shareholder’s shares. Assimilated EU law on cost disclosures would be amended to recognise the distinction.
A similar private member’s bill, the Alternative Investment Fund Designation Bill [HL] introduced by Baroness Altmann in November 2023, completed its third reading in the House of Lords on 10 May 2024 but did not progress before the end of the parliament.
Baroness Bowles’s bill has received industry support from the Association of Investment Companies and the government has said that it will consider options available to address the issues raised in the bill.
