Investment Fund Governance Lawyers

Our Fund Governance Advisory team advise investment funds and private equity fund boards, general partners, trustees, independent directors and non-executive directors, regarding their responsibilities, duties, obligations and liabilities collectively and individually.

Our highly experienced team regularly collaborate with our market leading Fund Disputes team and the Global Fund and Investments Services team; who are experts in fund formations, to deliver a comprehensive and insightful service on all fund governance issues. We also support investors in their due diligence reviews of international investment funds and private equity funds.

Our team also provide advice to:

  • Service providers to offshore funds on any regulatory concerns they may have in relation to their fund clients. This service covers advice over the life of the offshore fund, from the set-up phase, through operation, to distressed situations and termination.
  • Investors in connection with their investment in offshore investment funds and private equity funds.

In addition, we also advise Fund Boards and Investment Managers:

  • In the set-up phase – undertaking an independent review of the fund offering document and constitutional documents (including investment management agreements) and advising on consistency and market practice
  • Advising in relation to distressed situations, informal wind-downs and termination options
  • Providing guidance on the scope and applicability of directors’ duties, the duties of a general partner or other governing body
  • Assisting the fund board in the negotiation and consideration of the terms of side letters
  • Advising on the identification and management of conflicts of interest
  • Guiding the board on appropriate levels of oversight and enquiry of delegated functions and the establishment of committees
  • Providing assistance on the development of policies and procedures for the fund
  • Advising on regulatory governance issues
  • Reviewing and advising on directors & officers’ insurance (D&O)

Advise investors & service providers:

  • Conducting investor reviews of fund offering documents and constitutional documents (including investment management agreements) and advising on consistency and market practice
  • Assisting investors in the negotiations and consideration of the terms of side letters
  • Advising in relation to distressed situations, informal wind-downs and termination options
  • Advising service providers in relation to reporting requirements to regulatory authorities, tipping-off and other regulatory matters relevant to their role in relation to fund clients
More news
Appleby-Website-Corporate-Practice
8 Jul 2026

The Privy Council Provides Clarity to the Global Business Industry: Interest Exemptions Upheld in Mauritius

On 30 June 2026, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) delivered a judgment impacting the domestic and global business sectors in Mauritius.

Appleby-Website-Regulatory-Practice
7 Jul 2026

CIMA’s 2026 Reinsurance Thematic Review: Focus Points for Boards

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has published its 2026 Thematic Review of Reinsurance Companies (Thematic Review). This reflects fieldwork conducted by CIMA between mid-2025 and Q1 2026 at selected Class B(iii) and Class D licensed reinsurers. The focus being on compliance with the Insurance Act (as revised) and other applicable legislation, regulations, rules and statements of guidance as issued by CIMA centering around stress-testing, cash flow testing frameworks, capital and collateral adequacy management, and corporate governance. Corporate governance weaknesses account for 68% of all findings with the remaining 32% spread across stress-testing, cash flow testing capital and collateral adequacy. Notwithstanding these findings, CIMA has noted several good practices across all areas including, importantly, comprehensive risk management frameworks covering key risk areas and strong capital and collateral adequacy monitoring processes. With Cayman’s reinsurance sector having grown to an institutional scale, and over 110 licensed reinsurers writing in the order of US$30 billion in annual premiums against over US$100 billion in assets, this latest Thematic Review demonstrates development in CIMA’s supervisory expectations of Cayman’s licensed reinsurers. It represents a reflection of the jurisdiction’s increasingly sophisticated and maturing reinsurance market and reinforces that CIMA’s expectations align closely with the standards that onshore counterparty cedants, rating agencies and US state regulators already expect. We take this opportunity to review certain of the key findings alongside CIMA’s cross-sectoral 2026 Thematic Review on Outsourcing, note some of the good practices highlighted by CIMA and make some associated recommendations for Cayman reinsurers.

Appleby-Website-Insurance-and-Reinsurance
1 Jul 2026

The long game: how Bermuda became the world’s life reinsurance capital

Ask a life insurer in New York, London or Tokyo where the liabilities behind their book ultimately sit and there is an increasingly good chance the answer is a 21-square-mile island in the North Atlantic.

Appleby-Website-Insurance-and-Reinsurance
1 Jul 2026

Record H1’26 Cat Bond Issuance Driven by Rising Sponsor Comfort and Diversified Risk

With H1 2026 officially breaking the record for the most catastrophe bond deals to come to market and settle in the first six months of the year, a key trend driving this momentum is how comfortable sponsors have become with the mechanics of the overall cat bond space. This familiarity has ultimately encouraged a wave of new sponsors to enter the market, according to Brad Adderley, Managing Partner at law firm Appleby.

The Global Website header
30 Jun 2026

The Global - 2026 Q2 Review

The Global sees us share updates and insights from across our network of international offices on the latest legislative news, trends or developments impacting the corporate sector.

Appleby-Website-Regulatory-Practice
25 Jun 2026

CIMA Enforcement Action in Focus: Reminders and Recommendations

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has recently published a number of Enforcement Notices that provide helpful context for regulated entities, including Licensees and Registered Persons under the Securities Investment Business Act (Revised) (SIBA), seeking to understand and meet their ongoing regulatory obligations in the Cayman Islands. In early June 2026, CIMA exercised its enforcement powers under SIBA Section 17 to cancel the registrations of several SIBA Registered Persons on the basis that it had reasonable grounds to believe that such Registered Persons had failed to meet certain key regulatory obligations. The Appleby Team takes this opportunity to review the relevant findings and CIMA enforcement action; and to highlight certain key obligations that attach to regulated entities in the Cayman Islands.

Appleby-Website-Regulatory-Practice
23 Jun 2026

Important Cayman Islands Industry Advisory: Common Reporting Standard 2.0 and Economic Substance Updates

Further to the introduction of the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Common Reporting Standard) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 (the CRS Amendment Regulations or CRS 2.0), the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) has issued an Industry Advisory flagging certain key updates in respect of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Economic Substance (ES) reporting in the Cayman Islands. Cayman Financial Institutions will be required file 2025 CRS Returns and Declarations by 31 July 2026, ahead of the online DITC Portal’s closure to facilitate its transition to XML Schema v3.0. ES courtesy reminders (which have historically been sent by email to designated Responsible Persons in advance of annual ES reporting deadlines) will no longer be issued such that Relevant Entities will need to independently track such deadlines themselves. Updated Individual and Entity CRS Self-Certification forms, aligned with CRS 2.0, are now available online via the DITC website.

GUE
19 Jun 2026

Briefing Note: CDD – Acceptance of Scanned PDFs of Wet Ink Certified Documents

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated the Handbook on Countering Financial Crime (AML/CFT/CPF) (Handbook), introducing changes that affect how regulated businesses verify their clients’ identities and documents.