French bank BNP Paribas has completed the segregation of its clients’ UCITS assets, meeting new rules under the latest version of the European Union's investment fund directive.

The lender's securities services division says all UCITS assets it holds for clients under a depository in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK now comply with new segregation requirements.

UCITS (Undertaking in Collective Investments in Transferable Securities) governs investment funds suitable for sale to the general public.

The directive has been built up by a series of laws that have come into effect since 1988 on how funds should be structured, managed and governed, and how their assets should be safeguarded.

UCITS funds now have some €9trn of assets under management. One third of investors are retail clients with the remaining two thirds held by institutional investors, such as pension and insurance companies.

EU member states implemented the fifth version, UCITS V, into national law on March 18th.

The changes introduced include a requirement to appoint a single depository for each UCITS fund, disallowing the appointment of multiple depositories.

There is also an exhaustive list of entities eligible to act as a depository, along with specific safe-keeping requirements.

The aim is to ensure individual clients assets can be clearly distinguished from those of other firms.

BNP Paribas Securities Services says it has opened separate dedicated accounts with its external sub-custodians to book UCITS clients’ assets, keeping each pool separate from the next. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the bank said the process began in December 2015 and finished on March 24th.