On 4 June 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an updated version of its Q&As on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

Five new Q&As have been inserted under Section VI regarding depositories, namely asking:

• Under recital 42 of AIFMD, what are ‘supporting tasks that are linked to depositary tasks such as administrative or technical functions performed as part of the depositary tasks’ and under which conditions would it be possible to entrust third parties with such tasks?
• May depositaries entrust third parties with the performance of tasks that would give them the ability to transfer assets belonging to alternative investment funds (AbIFs)?
• Where the depositary of an AIF is a branch and the head office is established in a Member State other than the home Member State of the AIF, to which extent may the branch allocate its depositary functions to its head office in compliance with the establishment requirement set out in Article 21(5) of AIFMD?
• Where depositary functions are performed by a branch established in the home Member State of the AIF other than the home Member State of the depositary’s head office, who is responsible for supervising the activities of the branch relating to depositary functions?
• Where a depositary delegates some of its functions to another legal entity which belongs to the same group, should this be considered a delegation for the purposes of the application of the depositary delegation rules under Article 21(11) of the AIFMD?