European Venture Capital Fund (EuVeCa) and European Social Entrepreneurship Fund (EuSEF)

This section sets out:

• What is a EuVeCa and a EuSEF; 
• What this registration would allow you to do; and
• How to register a EuVeCa or a EuSEF.

EuVeCa’s are funds which place a percentage of the investments supporting young and innovative companies.

EuSEF are funds that focus on investing in European social businesses.

The EuVeCa and EuSEF regimes are available to managers of undertakings for Collective Investments established in the European Economic Area falling below the Alternative Investment Fund Managers  Directive (AIFMD) threshold of €500 million applicable to managers managing unleveraged, closed-ended alternative investment funds (AIF).

What would this registration allow you to do?

EuVeCa and EuSEF regimes are allowed to passport and raise capital across Europe in return for complying with the investment rules, registration and minimum regulatory capital.

EuVeCa

Every fund wanting to use this label will have to provide evidence that a high percentage of investments (a minimum of 70% of the capital received from investors) will be spent in supporting young and innovative companies.

EuSEF

Every fund wanting to use this label will have to prove that a high percentage of investments (a minimum of 70% of the capital received from investors) will be spent in supporting social businesses.

The fund will need to provide evidence that the achievement of measurable positive social impact will be the primary objective of each of the undertakings the Fund invests in.

How to register a EuVECA and a EuSEF

If Fund Managers want to register as a EuVeCa or EuSEF, they are required to complete a one of the Registration Forms below and submit this to the GFSC via email at authorisations@fsc.gi  

EUVeCa registration form

EUSEF registration form

External (non-Gibraltar) CIS Administrator

The administrator of an Experienced Investor Fund (EIF) must be domiciled and regulated in Gibraltar or, be established in a jurisdiction where it is regulated in accordance with a legislative and regulatory regime that provides,at least, the equivalent protection to the regime in Gibraltar. The appointment of fund administrators established outside of Gibraltar requires the Commission’s consent and is also subject to the consent of the Minister with responsibility for financial services.

Where a CIS Administrator established outside of Gibraltar wishes to provide services to EIFs, a Request Form found below should be completed and submitted to the GFSC.  

CIS Administrator form

Private Funds that are small, self-managed AIFMs

Although private funds are not regulated by the GFSC, the AIFMD requires the registration of small self-managed AIFMs.

Registration requires:

• Payment of the Registration Fee; and 
• AIFMD Reporting Template

Please submit the form above via e-mail to authorisations@fsc.gi with the following information in the subject field: ‘Name of Firm– Registration’ - please note that no paper copies need to be provided, unless indicated by the Authorisations team. 

Please note that we accept signed signature copies sent via e-mail and electronic signatures, which must originate from the Firm’s domain.  

Accountants and Tax Advisers fall under the definition of a “relevant financial business” as per Section 9 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015.  They are therefore required to apply to register with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

The purpose of this section is to set out the registration process that should be followed. 

Registration is required for AML/CFT supervision purposes only. Our responsibility under this regime is limited to AML/CTF registration, supervision, and enforcement only.  Businesses should ensure they continue to comply with any other requirements such as maintaining accounting standards.

Registration applies to natural or legal persons conducting the accounting or tax services:

• Tax advisors e.g. giving a customer specific tax advice, advice on whether something is liable to a tax, etc; 
• Accounting services such as recording, reviewing, analysing, calculating and reporting on financial information for other people. 

Please be advised that Registration is not required where the business is already supervised by another Supervisory Authority for another activity e.g. of business not required to Register with the GFSC:

• Law firm that provides tax advice as part of its services.  The law firm is already supervised for AML/CFT purposes by the Registrar of the Supreme Court; or
• Accountant that also provides auditing services and is already authorised by the GFSC as an Audit Firm/Auditor. 

The Regulations setting out the Registrations provisions can be found here.

 It is the responsibility of each business to ensure that it has obtained all of the necessary authorisations to undertake its services.  Therefore you should also consider any further licences that may be required outside of the scope of the Proceeds of Crime (Relevant Financial Business) (Registration) Regulations 2020. 

This section sets out:

• The process to register and the documents the applicant is required to submit;
• The fee schedule for registration and subsequent annual fees; and
• The AML/CFT requirements the applicant is required to have in compliance with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015.

Application process

As with all other activities and licence types, the GFSC welcomes, as a first step, applicants to contact the AML/CFT Supervision team to discuss the application proposal. This pre-application engagement will provide an opportunity for the GFSC to give applicants any appropriate guidance on the application process and registration regime.

An application pack is required to be submitted together with all the relevant documents. An application will not be considered complete if there are any outstanding documents.

The application pack must consist of:

• Application Fee;
• Application Form;
• Individuals Form (for each individual);
• A business risk assesment, setting out the AML/CFT risks associated with the business operations;
• Copy of the firm's policies and procedures for AML/CFT as defined in Section 26A of POCA (please review additional information for further guidance); and
• Completed Compliance Report  asset out in the GFSC’s AML/CFT Guidance Notes. This can be found here under Templates.

For each individual, the GFSC will complete and submit a Royal Gibraltar Police Vetting Application Form in accordance with Section 30C of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015. The vetting process is conducted internally by the GFSC and bears no cost to the applicant/firm. Any applicant that has not been ordinarily resident in Gibraltar for the last ten years should provide the GFSC with a report or their criminal record from the relevant authority in the jurisdiction(s) where the applicant has spent a considerable amount of time. If the report cannot be provided in english, it should be accompanied by a translation from a certified translator. 

Please request cloud access from the AML/CFT Supervision team in order to submit the application pack. Requests should be sent via E-mail to AMLCFT@fsc.gi with the following information in the subject field: ‘Name of Regulated Firm/Applicant – Application’. Paper copies are not required unless indicated by the AML/CFT Supervision team.

Please note that we accept signed signature copies sent via e-mail and electronic signatures, which must originate from the Applicant’s domain.

Fees

Please contact the AML/CFT team at amlcft@fsc.gi to enquire about the relevant fees.

Additional Information

The supervision of Accountants and Tax Advisers is solely aimed at countering the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with the industry and ultimately the enhancement and protection of Gibraltar’s reputation as a leading finance centre.

Therefore, businesses are required to consider anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism requirements, as set out within the Proceeds of Crime Act and the GFSC's AML/CFT Guidance Notes, and ensure that it can clearly articulate:

• How it complies with the requirements; and
• The internal controls implemented to mitigate such risks.

For further information please refer to our Financial Crime web section.

Businesses are required to submit a copy of its internal policies and procedures, which outline its mitigation controls and risk appetite.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published guidance for a Risk Based Approach specific to the Accounting Profession – it can be found here.

Forms

Applying for registration - Other VASP activities

There are some activities related to virtual assets that fall under the definition of a “relevant financial business” as per Section 9 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015, and are therefore required to apply to register with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

Registration applies to natural or legal persons conducting the following activities:

• Undertakings that receive, whether on their own account of on behalf of another person, proceeds in any form from the sale of tokenised digital assets involving the use of DLT or a similar means of recording a digital representation of an asset; and/or
• Exchange, or arrange or make arrangements with a view to the exchange of:

           - virtual assets for money;

           - money for virtual assets; or 

           - one virtual asset for another.

Registration is required for AML/CFT supervision purposes only. Our responsibility under this regime is limited to AML/CFT registration, supervision and enforcement only. Businesses should ensure they continue to comply with any other legislative requirements.

Please be advised that registration is not required where the business is already supervised by another Supervisory Authority for another activity (the business is not required to register with the GFSC), such as:

• An DLT Provider that will offer ICOs in addition to its other regulated activities and is already authorised by the GFSC.

The regulations setting out the registrations provisions can be found here.

It is the responsibility of each business to ensure that it has obtained all of the necessary authorisations to undertake its services. Therefore, you should also consider any further relevant permissions that may be required outside of the scope of the Proceeds of Crime Act (Relevant Financial Business) (Registrations) Regulations 2020.

This section sets out:

• The process to register and the documents the applicant is required to submit;
• The fee schedule for registration and subsequent annual fees; and
• The AML/CFT requirements the applicant is required to have to comply with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015.

Pre-Application Engagement 

As with all other activities and licence types, the GFSC welcomes, as a first step, applicants to contact the AML/CFT team to discuss the application proposal, business model and type of activity and/or services the firm wishes to provide in, or from within Gibraltar. This pre-application engagement will provide an opportunity for the GFSC to give applicants any appropriate guidance on the application process, registration regime, but more importantly, to discuss whether the proposed activity falls within the scope of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015.

Application Process 

An application pack is required to be submitted together with all the relevant documents. An application will not be considered complete if there are any outstanding documents.

The application pack must consist of:

• Application Fee;
• Application Form;
• Individuals Form (for each individual);
• A business risk assesment, setting out the AML/CFT risks associated with the business operations; 
• Copy of the firm's policies and procedures for AML/CFT as defined in Section 26A of POCA (please review additional information for further guidance); and
• Completed Compliance Report as set out in the GFSC’s AML/CFT Guidance Notes. This can be found here under Templates.

NOTE: The firm may also be required to submit and independent legal opinion in order to ascertain whether the activities of the firm fall within the scope of the DLT provider regime.  

For each individual, the GFSC will complete and submit a Royal Gibraltar Police Vetting Application Form in accordance with Section 30C of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015. The vetting process is conducted internally by the GFSC and bears no cost to the applicant/firm. Any applicant that has not been ordinarily resident in Gibraltar for the last ten years should provide the GFSC with a report or their criminal record from the relevant authority in the jurisdiction(s) where the applicant has spent a considerable amount of time. If the report cannot be provided in english, it should be accompanied by a translation from a certified translator. 

Please request cloud access from the AML/CFT Supervision team in order to submit the application pack. Requests should be sent via E-mail to amlcft@fsc.gi with the following information in the subject field:

‘Name of Regulated Firm/Applicant – Application’.

Paper copies are not required unless indicated by the AML/CFT Supervision team. 

Please note that we accept signed signature copies sent via e-mail and electronic signatures, which must originate from the Applicant’s domain.

Fees

Please contact the AML/CFT Supervision team at amlcft@gfsc.gi to enquire about the relevant fees.

Additional Information

The supervision of these activities is solely aimed at countering the risks of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, associated with this activity and ultimately the enhancement and protection of Gibraltar’s reputation as a leading finance centre.

Therefore, businesses are required to consider AML/CFT requirements, as set out within POCA and the GFSC's AML/CFT Guidance Notes, and ensure that it can clearly articulate:

• How it complies with the requirements; and
• The internal controls implemented to mitigate such risks.

For further information, please refer to our Financial Crime web section.

Businesses are required to submit a copy of its internal policies and procedures, which outline its mitigation controls and risk appetite.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published guidance for a Risk Based Approach specific to VASPs – it can be found here.

Forms

Deregistration of an Accountant, Tax Advisor, Virtual Asset Arrangement Provider (VAAP) and Token Sale (ICO)

The following information and documentation will be expected to be received in order for the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to deregister an Accountant, Tax Advisor, VAAP or Token Sale (ICO)*:

• Written confirmation that the firm wishes to deregister;
• Reason for deregistration of the firm;
• Director’s undertaking confirming that the firm has ceased to carry out the licensed activity; and
• A completed Token Sale Return which is available here . NB: This is only applicable to ICOs

*Please note a Token Sale firm is required to deregister within 2 weeks of its token sale. 

Please submit any enquires and requests to process a deregistration to amlcft@fsc.gi.

Forms