UCITS

Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities. UCITS are open-ended collective investment schemes with the sole object of collective investment in transferable securities or in other liquid financial assets, capital raised from the public and which operate on the principle of risk-spreading, and the units of which are repurchased or redeemed out of such UCITS’ assets. A UCITS must be authorized by the competent authority of its home Member State in order to be able to carry out its activities. UCITS were originally established by the UCITS Directive (85/611/EEC), which has subsequently been replaced by UCITS IV. The aim of the UCITS directive was to create a single market for UCITS, while ensuring a high level of protection for investors.