SICAV
Encyclopedia
A SICAV is an open-ended collective investment scheme
Collective investment scheme
A collective investment scheme is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group...

 common in Western Europe, especially Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. SICAV is an acronym for Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 sociedad de inversión de capital variable, Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

 Societat d'inversió de capital variable, Galician
Galician
Galician can refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Galicia * Galician language* Galician people, an ethnic group of Galicia, Spain* Galician wine, wine produced in Galicia, Spain*Galician cuisine- See also :* Galicia...

 Sociedade de Investimento de Capital Variábel, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 société d'investissement à capital variable or Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 società d'investimento a capitale variabile, among other languages, which can be translated as 'investment company with variable capital'.

It is similar to an open-ended
Open-end fund
An open-end fund is a collective investment scheme which can issue and redeem shares at any time. An investor will generally purchase shares in the fund directly from the fund itself rather than from the existing shareholders...

 mutual fund
Mutual fund
A mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment scheme that pools money from many investors to buy stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities.- Overview :...

 in the United States, while a sociedad de inversión de capital fijo or société d'investissement à capital fixe (SICAF) is similar to a closed-end fund
Closed-end fund
A closed-end fund is a collective investment scheme with a limited number of shares. It is called a closed-end fund because new shares are rarely issued once the fund has launched, and because shares are not normally redeemable for cash or securities until the fund liquidates.Typically an...

. As in the case of other open-end collective investment schemes (such as contractual funds), the investor is in principle entitled at all times to request the redemption of his units and payment of the redemption amount in cash.

SICAVs are increasingly being cross-border marketed in the EU under the UCITS directive.

SICAV/Open-end Collective Investment in Switzerland

According to the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (Collective Investment Schemes Act - CISA), an open-ended collective investment scheme may be in the form of a contractual fund or an investment company with variable capital (SICAV).

With open-ended collective investment schemes, investors have either a direct or indirect legal entitlement, at the expense of the collective assets, to redeem their units at the net asset value
Net asset value
Net asset value is a term used to describe the value of an entity's assets less the value of its liabilities. The term is most commonly used in relation to open-ended or mutual funds because shares of such funds registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are redeemed at their net...

.

Each open-ended collective investment scheme has its own fund regulations (often referred to also as prospectus
Prospectus (finance)
In finance, a prospectus is a document that describes a financial security for potential buyers. A prospectus commonly provides investors with material information about mutual funds, stocks, bonds and other investments, such as a description of the company's business, financial statements,...

). Contractual funds are regulated by the collective investment contract (e.g. fund contract). In SICAVs, it is the articles of association and the investment regulations.

SICAVs in Spain

In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, a SICAV is a public limited company
Public limited company
A public limited company is a limited liability company that sells shares to the public in United Kingdom company law, in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth jurisdictions....

 whose object is to invest in financial assets. Sicavs possess great tax advantage
Tax advantage
Tax advantage refers to the economic bonus which applies to certain accounts or investments that are, by statute, tax-reduced, tax-deferred, or tax-free...

s, paying just 1% to the Treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....

 in corporate income tax (corporation tax). Nonetheless they have to fulfill several requirements:
  • Number of stockholders no less than 100.
  • Restrictions on investments.
  • Variable capital between the minimum and maximum established by the articles of association
    Articles of Association
    The Continental Association, often known simply as the "Association", was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain...

    .
  • Minimum capital of €2,400,000.
  • Control and supervision is carried out by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores
    Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores
    The Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores is the Spanish government agency responsible for regulating the financial securities markets in Spain...

     and the Dirección General del Tesoro y Política Financiera.

See also

  • Collective investment scheme
    Collective investment scheme
    A collective investment scheme is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group...

    s
  • Financial services
    Financial services
    Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

  • ICVC
    ICVC
    An Open-ended investment company or Investment Company with Variable Capital is a type of open-ended collective investment formed as a corporation under the Open-Ended Investment Company Regulations 2001 in the United Kingdom...

     (the UK equivalent)
  • Investment
    Investment
    Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...

  • Open-end fund
    Open-end fund
    An open-end fund is a collective investment scheme which can issue and redeem shares at any time. An investor will generally purchase shares in the fund directly from the fund itself rather than from the existing shareholders...

    (the US equivalent)

External links




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