The Central Bank UCITS Regulations — Ireland
Ask the law
Ask a plain question about fund regulation. The answer is built only from the mined legal text, with every point cited to the exact Article — or an honest “not covered”. Not legal advice.
The Central Bank UCITS Regulations are the Central Bank's own rulebook for Irish UCITS, their management companies and their depositaries. The current version is S.I. 316/2026, signed on 7 July 2026. It revoked the 2019 Regulations and their 2023 amendment, replacing both with a single instrument. It sits on top of the UCITS Regulations 2011, which carry the EU Directive into Irish law. The 2011 S.I. sets the limits; this instrument sets how you operate to them.
Scope and mechanism
The Central Bank makes these Regulations itself. It uses the power in section 48(1) of the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013, after consulting the relevant Ministers. That is why the formal title is so long. The full citation is the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48(1)) (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2026 (Regulation 1).
The fund-level duties fall on the responsible person, defined in Regulation 2 as the management company where one is designated, and otherwise the UCITS itself. The definition takes a special meaning where a management company is being replaced. Parts 11 and 12 place further duties directly on management companies and depositaries. The instrument runs in 14 Parts. Part 2 covers investment restrictions, derivatives, dealing, valuation and fees. Parts 3 to 7 cover supervision, the prospectus, the KIID or KID and periodic reports. Part 8 covers ETFs and money-market UCITS. Part 13 holds miscellaneous provisions.
In practice: some regulation numbers changed between the 2019 and 2026 instruments. Performance fees were Regulation 40 and are now Regulation 43. The UCITS ETF naming rule moved from Regulation 85 to Regulation 88. A reference to a 2019 regulation number does not necessarily point to the same rule in 2026.
Key provisions
| Provision | What it says | The practical point |
|---|---|---|
| Recently issued securities (Reg. 12) | No more than 10% of assets in recently issued securities under Regulation 68(1)(d) of the UCITS Regulations. Rule 144A securities fall outside this cap if issued with an undertaking to register with the SEC within one year of issue. | They must also be realisable within seven days at about their valued price. Regulation 68(2)(a) sets a separate 10% limit on instruments outside Regulation 68(1). |
| Borrowing (Reg. 14) | Cash balances may not be offset against borrowings. Currency borrowing above a back-to-back deposit counts as borrowing under Regulation 103 of the UCITS Regulations. | Gross, not net, is the measure. A cash balance in one currency does not cancel an overdraft in another. |
| Global exposure (Regs 17 to 22) | Commitment or VaR approach, with relative or absolute VaR chosen to fit the risk profile. A UCITS using VaR must run back-testing and stress-testing (Regs 20 and 21). | The choice of VaR model and its reasons must be fully documented (Reg. 19). |
| Redemption payments (Reg. 33) | Redemption proceeds are paid within ten business days of the dealing deadline. | The same ten-day limit appeared in the 2019 Regulations. |
| Liquidity management tools (Regs 34 to 37) | The prospectus must disclose the selected tools and their triggers. The responsible person should consider one quantity-based tool and one anti-dilution tool, subject to the money-market fund derogation. | Suspensions go to the Central Bank without delay, with an update every 21 working days while they last. |
| Performance fees (Reg. 43) | Payable only on positive performance, net of earlier losses, over the reference period. High-water mark models follow Reg. 43(2), and fees crystallise no more than once a year, with exceptions in Reg. 43(6). | The depositary, or a competent person it approves, verifies that the calculation procedures work. |
| Supervisory returns (Reg. 54) | Returns and records go to the Central Bank in the form and content it specifies on its website. | The 2019 text fixed monthly and quarterly returns in the Regulations. Now the Bank's specification governs. |
| Fee disclosure (Reg. 77) | The prospectus states the maximum for every recurring fee charged on net asset value. | The rule covers recurring fees deducted from the fund's assets. |
| UCITS ETFs (Reg. 88) | An ETF uses the identifier "UCITS ETF" in its name and core documents. It may apply at sub-fund or listed share class level. | Mixed listed and unlisted classes need care with naming. |
| Management company directors (Reg. 105) | At least two directors resident in Ireland. No one may sit on the board of both the management company and the depositary of the same fund. | Director exits go to the Central Bank without delay, with reasons. |
Amendment history
| Date | Instrument | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 27 May 2019 | S.I. 230/2019 | Consolidated rulebook. It revoked the 2015 Central Bank UCITS Regulations (S.I. 420/2015) and their 2016 and 2017 amendments. |
| 2023 | S.I. 565/2023 | Added own-funds and internal capital assessment rules for management companies offering individual portfolio management (Central Bank notice). Revoked in 2026. |
| 7 Jul 2026 | S.I. 316/2026 | Replaced S.I. 230/2019 and S.I. 565/2023 (Reg. 131), subject to the savings in Reg. 132. It adds liquidity management tool and side pocket rules, and revises the suspension and gate provisions. In operation from the end of 6 July 2026 under the Interpretation Act 2005, s.16(3). |
What it works with
This is the second layer of a two-layer system. The first layer is the UCITS Regulations 2011, which transpose the UCITS Directive. Several rules here point back to a regulation in the 2011 S.I., such as Regulation 68(1)(d) on recently issued securities and Regulation 103 on borrowing. The liquidity tool rules point to Regulation 28A and Schedule 5A of the 2011 S.I., where the menu of tools now sits. An Irish UCITS may use an ICAV structure under the ICAV Act 2015 (see the ICAV Act summary). For the term itself, see the UCITS glossary entry.
For alternatives, the parallel stack is the AIFM Regulations 2013 plus the Central Bank's AIF Rulebook. The domicile comparison sets Irish and Luxembourg fund regimes side by side.
In practice: the Irish Statute Book still hosts the 2019 instrument. It was revoked by Regulation 131 of S.I. 316/2026, subject to the Regulation 132 savings for earlier directions, investigations and enforcement. The current Central Bank UCITS rules are those in S.I. 316/2026.
To verify
- Transition: S.I. 316/2026 states no operation date, so s.16(3) of the Interpretation Act 2005 applies. Confirm whether the Central Bank set any separate transition period for existing UCITS.
- Regulation 28A of the UCITS Regulations: confirm the amending instrument (the Central Bank lists S.I. 182/2026) and its operation date.
- Return formats: confirm the current return list and deadlines the Central Bank publishes under Reg. 54.
Ask a question about this law
Get an article-cited answer built only from the mined legal text — or an honest “not covered”.
Ask the law →