AIFMD II Implementation: The Final Countdown

Member States are required to transpose AIFMD II into national law by 16 April 2026. Certain Member States, such as Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, have already published drafts of their implementing legislation, whereas others, such as Belgium, France, Italy and Spain, have yet to do so. In addition, formal adoption of delegating legislation containing regulatory technical standards ("RTS") on, inter alia, liquidity management tools and open-ended loan-originating funds is pending.

For loan-originating AIFs, AIFMD II requires implementation of robust policies, procedures and leverage limits. Loan-originating AIFs should in principle be closed-ended. If a loan-originating AIF is open-ended, additional requirements will apply; however, the European Commission has recently confirmed that these requirements (although already published by the European Securities and Markets Authority in final form RTS) are considered "non-essential" and will therefore not be formally adopted before 1 October 2027. This does not necessarily prevent Member States from implementing the RTS regardless of their delayed adoption, and AIFMs should therefore closely monitor developments in this regard.

For open-ended AIFs, AIFMD II requires AIFMs to select at least two liquidity management tools for each open-ended AIF they manage. The RTS detailing these rules were adopted by the European Commission on 18 November 2025; however, compliance with these RTS is not mandatory until 16 April 2027.

In conclusion, in light of AIFMD II's fast-approaching implementation deadline, the outstanding adoption of various RTS, and the general additional compliance burden for AIFMs resulting from AIFMD II, AIFMs are advised to commence their operational preparation as soon as possible to ensure timely alignment of their frameworks, documentation and processes with AIFMD II, if they have not already done so.