(1) The Canadian securities regulatory authorities expect the manager of an investment fund (whether a mutual fund or a non-redeemable investment fund) to establish an effective liquidity risk management policy that considers the liquidity of the types of assets in which the investment fund will be invested, and the fund’s obligations and other liabilities (for example, meeting redemption requests, or margin calls from derivative counterparties). Appropriate internal limits for the investment fund’s liquidity needs, in line with its investment strategies, should be established.
(2) As portfolio assets may become illiquid when market conditions change, the Canadian securities regulatory authorities are of the view that the manager should regularly measure, monitor and manage the liquidity of the investment fund’s portfolio assets, keeping in mind the time to liquidate each portfolio asset, the price the asset may be sold at and the pattern of redemption requests.
(3) Furthermore, the Canadian securities regulatory authorities are of the view that illiquid assets are generally more difficult to value, for the purposes of calculating an investment fund’s net asset value, than assets which are liquid. As a result, where a non-redeemable investment fund has a large proportion of its assets invested in illiquid assets, this raises concerns about the accuracy of the fund’s net asset value and the amount of any fees calculated with reference to net asset value. Accordingly, staff of the Canadian securities regulatory authorities may raise comments or questions in the course of their reviews of the prospectuses or continuous disclosure documents of non-redeemable investment funds where such funds have a significant proportion of their assets invested in illiquid assets.