On 12 September 2019, the FCA published the First Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) and the FCA.

The SFC and the FCA are parties to an MoU concerning Mutual Recognition of Covered Funds and Covered Management Companies and related Cooperation dated 8 October 2018 which sets out their respective roles and responsibilities for enhancing cooperation in relation to: (i) collective investment schemes domiciled in either Hong Kong or the UK and offered to the public in the UK and/or Hong Kong on a cross-border basis; and (ii) management companies of collective investment schemes, based in either Hong Kong or the UK.

The First Addendum is made pursuant to Article 11(1) of the MoU. It is supplemental to and forms part of the MoU, and is read in conjunction with the MoU unless otherwise stated.

The First Addendum is intended to ensure that the UK-Hong Kong mutual recognition of funds arrangement will continue to operate in a smooth manner after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. It changes paragraph (y) of Article 1 of the MoU by changing the definition of UK UCITS to “a collective investment scheme which is authorised as a UK Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities by the FCA under Part 17 of FSMA or under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Open Ended Investment Company) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/1228) (as amended).”