An investment fund is two things: a vehicle that holds the investors' money and a manager that runs it under a regulator's eye. The right domicile depends on who your investors are, where they live and how fast you need to launch. Below: 12 domiciles with the rules and official fees from each regulator as of 23 October 2026, the people a fund needs around it and the steps from strategy to first close.
Updated · Reviewed by the Prifinance team
The vehicle holds the investors' money: a company, a partnership or a contractual fund. The manager decides what to buy and answers to the regulator. In the EU the manager is the AIFM, and the AIFMD sets one test for when it needs a licence and when a registration is enough.
Each answer takes some domiciles off the list.
In the EU the manager, not the fund, carries most of the regulation. Above the AIFMD thresholds it needs a licence; below them a registration is enough, unless the fund type itself calls for an authorised AIFM, as a Luxembourg RAIF does.
| Country | Licensed fund manager | Smaller or lighter route |
|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg (CSSF)More details → | €125,000 of capital, €300,000 if the fund manages itself; CSSF fee €18,000 once and €42,000 a year | A registered AIFM pays €7,200 once and €10,000 a year, but a RAIF needs an authorised AIFM |
| Ireland (Central Bank) | €125,000 or €300,000; decided in 3 months, extendable by 3; yearly levy from €18,908 | Registration below the AIFMD thresholds |
| Malta (MFSA) | €125,000 of initial capital; the MFSA has 3 months to decide, or 6 if it extends | A de minimis AIFM still needs a licence: €6,750 to apply in 2026 and €125,000 of capital |
| Liechtenstein (FMA)More details → | €125,000 or €300,000; fee CHF 20,000; a decision within 3 months, 6 at most | A small AIFM registers for CHF 10,000 |
| Austria (FMA)More details → | €125,000 or €300,000; fee €12,500; a decision within 3 months, plus up to 3 | Registration for €3,750 plus €500 for each fund from the second, then €625 for each fund launched later |
| Estonia (Finantsinspektsioon)More details → | Full AIFM: €125,000; fee €3,000; a decision within 2 months, 6 at most | Small manager: €25,000 of capital, registration for €2,000 within 2 months; a licence for a contractual or AS fund |
| Switzerland (FINMA)More details → | Fund management company: CHF 1 million of capital; manager of collective assets: CHF 200,000 | The L-QIF itself needs no FINMA approval |
Capital and fees are the regulators' own figures. Depositary, administration and audit costs come on top and depend on the providers you choose.
Country by country: fund vehicles and regulators, trusts and foundations.
Domiciles we compare on request, with figures from each regulator's own rules.
| Domicile | Vehicle and timing | Investors and official fees |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland (Central Bank) | QIAIF as a company, ICAV, unit trust, common contractual fund or partnership: filed by 5 pm on the business day before the chosen authorisation date, with every party approved in advance | €100,000 minimum per investor; yearly levy from €8,952 per fund |
| Malta (MFSA) | Notified AIF or notified PIF: on the MFSA list within 10 working days of a complete filing | €100,000 per investor (in a NAIF, for qualifying investors); 2026 fees: NAIF €2,625 to file and €3,000 a year, NPIF €2,375 and €2,500 |
| Cayman Islands (CIMA) | Registered mutual fund (open-ended): registered by CIMA in about 5 business days; private fund (closed-ended): applies within 21 days of accepting commitments and takes no capital until registered | Registered fund: CI$80,000 minimum per investor; private fund: no minimum. Both pay CI$300 to file and CI$4,125 a year, the first year on registration |
| British Virgin Islands (FSC) | Professional fund: may trade for up to 21 days before recognition, applying within 14 days of launch; incubator fund: may start 2 business days after applying, for up to 20 investors and US$20 million, for 2 years | Professional fund: professional investors with US$100,000 each; FSC fees US$850 to apply, US$1,200 on recognition and US$1,200 a year |
Each of these is a condition somewhere on this page. The fund documents name them, and the regulator checks them where it reviews the fund.
The laws, rulebooks, fee rules and regulator pages behind every figure on this page.
Rules, fees and deadlines in force on 23 October 2026. If a regulator changes a figure, its own text linked here prevails.
What the fund buys, who invests, how much each puts in and how often they may redeem. These answers rule domiciles in or out.
A company, a partnership or a contractual fund in a domicile your investors accept, with or without product approval.
Your own licensed or registered manager, or a third-party AIFM or fund management company that takes the fund on.
Offering memorandum, constitutional documents and agreements with the depositary, administrator and auditor, then bank and broker accounts.
A deed and the RCS list for a RAIF, a notice to the Federal Department of Finance for an L-QIF, an ORION filing for a QIAIF, a notification pack in Malta, a marketing notice in Liechtenstein, a marketing approval in Austria, a CIMA registration in the Cayman Islands.
First close, then yearly audits, reports to the regulator, subscription tax or levies and the annual fees on this page.
This market is full of intermediaries selling one product because it is the one they sell. We work both sides of the section. Regulated funds and private structures, which is why we can tell you that the thing you asked for is not the thing you need, and then build the one that is.
Fund lawyers and private-client lawyers in the same firm, so the answer to fund or trust is argued from your facts rather than from what we happen to sell.
Before you pay anyone, you get a written view of what the structure does, where its limits run, and what it will not protect you from.
The quote you approve is the price you pay. State, regulator, trustee, administrator and audit fees are stated separately and upfront.
Offering documents, fund rules and risk frameworks drafted to the regulator's standards; deeds, letters of wishes and beneficiary classes drafted for the family as it will become, not as it is today.
Renewals, annual returns, audited statements, TUBOR and IRD filings, trustee changes and restructuring. Including migrating a structure that has outgrown the one it started in.
15 years in FinTech and asset structuring. Decides with you whether the answer is a fund or a private structure, then maps it to a domicile and leads the file to the regulator's decision.
Builds the structure itself: the local vehicle, the AML/KYC policy pack, capital and service-provider contracts, fund documentation and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
First point of contact for international founders and families. Runs the whole set-up remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live fund or an executed deed.
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Decide the strategy and who will invest, then pick a domicile and a vehicle those investors accept. Appoint a manager, which in the EU means an authorised or registered AIFM, draft the offering documents and sign up a depositary, an administrator and an auditor. The filing comes last: a deed and a register entry for a Luxembourg RAIF, a notice for a Swiss L-QIF, an authorisation for an Irish QIAIF or a Luxembourg SIF.
The official fees are the smaller part. A single Luxembourg SIF pays the CSSF €4,650 to apply and €4,650 a year, an umbrella SIF €9,250 and from €9,250 a year; a Maltese notified AIF pays €2,625 to file and €3,000 a year in 2026; a fund notice in Liechtenstein costs CHF 750. A manager licence costs more: €18,000 at the CSSF, CHF 20,000 at the FMA in Liechtenstein, €12,500 in Austria, plus €125,000 of capital. Providers and set-up work come on top, and we fix our fee in writing after a free assessment.
The regulator's part can be short. Ireland authorises a QIAIF the business day after a complete filing, Malta lists a notified fund within 10 working days, and a Luxembourg RAIF needs no approval at all. A new EU manager licence takes up to 3 months from a complete file, plus up to 3 more. Documents, providers and bank accounts decide the rest of the timeline.
The same way as any professional fund: strategy, domicile, manager, documents and providers, then the filing. In the EU a hedge fund is an AIF run by an AIFM. Offshore, an open-ended hedge fund can be a Cayman registered fund or a BVI professional fund, and a closed-ended one a Cayman private fund. Settle redemption terms, leverage and the prime broker early, because they shape the documents and the manager's licence.
€100,000 per investor in an Irish QIAIF and in a Maltese notified PIF. A Maltese notified AIF asks the same of qualifying investors, and a Luxembourg RAIF or SIF of well-informed investors who are not institutional or professional investors, unless a bank, an investment firm or a fund manager certifies their expertise. Offshore it is CI$80,000 in a Cayman registered fund, US$100,000 in a BVI or Seychelles professional fund and B/.100,000 in a Panama private fund for qualified investors. Estonia lets a small manager keep a fund non-public with €100,000 per investor, among other routes.
In the EU the manager needs an AIFM licence above €100 million under management, or €500 million for unleveraged funds that lock investors in for 5 years; below that it registers. Some fund types ask for more: a RAIF in Luxembourg or a notified AIF in Malta can only be run by a fully authorised AIFM. In Switzerland an L-QIF must be run by a FINMA-licensed fund management company or, in the limited partnership form, a manager of collective assets.
A reserved alternative investment fund under Luxembourg's Law of 23 July 2016. It needs no CSSF approval: it is set up by notarial deed and entered on a list kept by the trade register, and supervision sits with its authorised AIFM. It is open to well-informed investors, must reach €1,250,000 of capital or net assets within 24 months and pays a subscription tax of 0.01% a year.
The Swiss Limited Qualified Investor Fund, available since 1 March 2024. FINMA does not authorise, approve or supervise it; a FINMA-licensed institution manages it and notifies the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), which keeps a public register. Only qualified investors may invest, and a contractual fund or SICAV needs CHF 5 million of net assets within a year of launch.
The one your investors accept. Professional investors in the EU are easiest to reach through an EU fund with an authorised AIFM, qualified investors in Switzerland through an L-QIF. For investors outside the EU and Switzerland, CIMA registers a Cayman mutual fund in about five business days, and a BVI professional fund may start trading before it is recognised. Speed, cost and the manager you already have narrow it further, so we compare two or three domiciles for your case in writing.
We fix our fee in writing after the free assessment, once the domicile, the vehicle and the manager route are settled. Official fees, capital and provider costs are listed separately, so you can check them against each regulator's schedule.
Tell us the strategy, who your investors are and where they live, and how much you plan to raise. Our legal team replies in writing with the vehicle, the domicile, the manager route, the official fees and our fixed fee.
