Small Authorised AIFM

Under the UK AIFM regime, Managing an AIF is a regulated activity that covers the portfolio management and/or risk management of alternative investment funds (AIFs). In UK regulation this appears as two Part 4A FCA permission variants that reflect the status of the fund being managed: Managing an Authorised AIF and Managing an Unauthorised AIF.^[2]
A Small Authorised UK AIFM is defined in UK legislation as a UK AIFM that (a) is a small AIFM; (b) has a Part 4A permission to manage an AIF; and (c) has not opted into the full-scope AIFM regime.^[3]

The small AIFM category is mainly based on a firm’s total assets under management (AUM). An AIFM is treated as small if the total value of all the portfolios it manages, including leverage, is no more than €100 million, or no more than €500 million where the portfolios are unleveraged and investors have no redemption rights for five years after they invest.^[4]

In the UK implementation of AIFMD, small authorised UK AIFMs fall within the Small Authorised Regime for sub-threshold AIFMs. This regime sits alongside the Small Registered Regime and applies a lighter set of requirements than the full-scope AIFM regime. Small authorised UK AIFMs hold FCA permission to manage AIFs but are not subject to the full-scope AIFM requirements that apply to managers above the thresholds; they may elect to be treated as full-scope AIFMs.^[3][4]