Private Funds - Updated Fund Annual Return Form (2022-02-16)

Summary

This is a short industry notice from CIMA announcing that it is updating the Fund Annual Return (FAR) form used by private funds when submitting their audited financial statements to the Authority. The new form merges the previous private fund FAR form with the separate Related Fund Entity (RFE) form into a single combined form, and was scheduled for release by 1 March 2022.

The notice tells private funds and their designated submitters which version of the form to use based on financial year-end.

• Updated combined FAR form (PFR-049-77-02): Applies to financial year-ends of 31 December 2021 and later.
• Old FAR form (PFR-049-77) and RFE form (RFE-050-77): Remain valid only for financial year-end filings up to 30 November 2021.

The updated form will be accessible via CIMA's REEFS portal, and an updated completion guide will be posted on CIMA's website when the new form is released.

Key obligations

• Private funds (via their designated submitters) must use the updated combined FAR form (PFR-049-77-02) for all financial year-end filings of 31 December 2021 and beyond.
• Private funds with financial year-ends up to 30 November 2021 must continue to use the original separate FAR form (PFR-049-77) and RFE form (RFE-050-77).

Applies to

private funds

Deadlines

• 1 March 2022: Scheduled release date of the updated Fund Annual Return (FAR) form on CIMA's REEFS portal.
• 31 December 2021 and beyond: Financial year-ends for which the updated combined FAR form must be used.
• up to 30 November 2021: Financial year-ends for which the original FAR form and RFE form remain applicable.