What does UCITS stand for?
UCITS stands for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities. It is a regulatory framework established in the EU in 1985 and now adopted in the UK following Brexit. UCITS sets out the rules that investment funds must follow to be sold to retail investors across European markets. A fund that complies with UCITS regulations is sometimes described as ‘UCITS-compliant’ or, in the case of exchange-traded funds, a ‘UCITS ETF’. Our share dealing account provides access to UCITS ETFs as one of the most widely used investment structures available to UK retail investors.
The UCITS framework was updated through successive directives, with UCITS IV and UCITS V introducing significant changes to depositary rules, manager remuneration and fund mergers. The current framework applies to the vast majority of retail investment funds sold in the UK and across the EU, covering ETFs, index funds, active equity funds, bond funds and money market funds.