An asset management license is the regulator's permission to manage money that belongs to others: an investment fund, client portfolios under a mandate, or both. Which licence you need turns on what you manage, for whom and how much. Below are 17 jurisdictions with the capital and official fees from each regulator and the decision clock where the rules set one, the licence types side by side and the file a regulator reads before it says yes.
Updated · Reviewed by the Prifinance team
A UCITS management company manages UCITS and needs authorisation at any size. An AIFM manages alternative investment funds: below the AIFMD thresholds it registers, above them it needs a licence. A portfolio manager under MiFID II works client by client. One firm may combine these permissions. Where its home state allows it, a UCITS management company or an external AIFM adds client portfolios and advice to its own authorisation; a separate MiFID firm brings its own capital, file and decision clock.
Settle them before you compare countries.
Each of these regimes has its own country page. The figures come from the regulator's law, rules and fee schedule.
| Jurisdiction | Licence, capital and official fees | People, clock and lighter routes |
|---|---|---|
| Liechtenstein (FMA)More details → | Asset management company (VVG): €75,000 of initial capital; FMA fee CHF 15,000, or CHF 10,000 for a small class-3 firm; levy CHF 8,000 or CHF 5,000 a year plus 0.0015% of assets | Two managing directors at the Liechtenstein seat; a decision within 6 months of a complete file; valid across the EEA; client assets are never held |
| Abu Dhabi Global Market (FSRA)More details → | Category 3C for managing assets: US$250,000 of base capital; a firm that only manages funds needs US$150,000 for public or retail funds and US$50,000 for other funds (FSRA guide, May 2025) | The Senior Executive Officer, the Compliance Officer and the MLRO must live in the UAE |
| Labuan (Labuan FSA)More details → | Fund manager licence under LFSSA s. 40: RM300,000 of paid-up capital, plus 0.2% of assets above RM150 million; US$500 to process, US$3,000 a year for a new licensee | Two directors and a registered office in Labuan; a manager of private funds only, up to 50 investors with RM250,000 each or any number with RM500,000, needs no licence |
| Mauritius (FSC)More details → | CIS manager licence: MUR 1,000,000 of stated unimpaired capital at all times; a global business company pays US$1,000 to process and US$2,500 a year, a domestic one MUR 25,000 and MUR 75,000 | A domestic manager keeps two officers based full time who know the operations of a CIS manager |
| Seychelles (FSA)More details → | Investment advisor licence for a company: US$25,000 of paid-up capital under the FSA guidelines; US$2,000 to apply, US$5,000 a year | At least one licensed representative and a physical office for the core work in Seychelles; FSA service standard of 30 working days |
| Austria (FMA)More details → | AIFM licence (Konzession): €125,000, or €300,000 for a self-managed AIF; FMA fee €12,500; at least two managers | Decision within 3 months, plus up to 3; below the thresholds, registration for €3,750, €500 per further fund and €625 for each fund notified later |
| Estonia (Finantsinspektsioon)More details → | Full AIFM: €125,000 of share capital, a €3,000 processing fee, a decision within 2 months of all documents and 6 months at most | Small manager: registered with €25,000 (€2,000 fee, 2 months) or licensed with €25,000 rising to €50,000 within 3 years (€3,000 fee, 2 to 4 months); a contractual or AS fund needs the licence |
Capital and fees here are official figures only. Office, staff, audit and insurance are separate costs and depend on the people and providers you choose.
Country by country: regulator, licence type, capital, timelines and tax.
What the regulators charge to apply and each year, the capital they require and how long a decision takes.
Which licence fits which service, what the regulator checks and the steps from business plan to authorisation.
Dealing licences from the SEC and the SFC to the offshore securities dealer: capital, fees, people and timelines.
What the buyer acquires, when the regulator must approve a change of control, the thresholds, filing times and fees.
Places 1 to 19 by business model, with the capital, official fees and decision times behind each place.
Seven licence types a manager usually chooses between, with the capital, who may use each one and the decision time set in the rules.
| Licence type | Capital and who may use it | Decision time |
|---|---|---|
| UCITS management company (EU) | €125,000 plus 0.02% of portfolios above €250 million, €10 million at most; manages UCITS, other funds only as an extra activity, and may add client portfolios and advice; valid in every Member State | 6 months from a complete application; business may start once authorised |
| Full-scope AIFM (EU) | €125,000, or €300,000 for an internally managed AIF, plus the same 0.02%; required above €100 million of assets, or €500 million for unleveraged funds closed to redemptions for 5 years; valid in every Member State | 3 months from a complete application, plus up to 3 more if the regulator extends it |
| Registered or sub-threshold AIFM (EU) | Registration below those thresholds, without AIFMD capital; national rules may add some, such as €25,000 for an Estonian small manager, and Malta licenses even a de minimis AIFM at €125,000; no passport unless the manager opts in to the full directive | Estonia decides within 2 months of a compliant application |
| MiFID portfolio manager (EU) | €75,000 if the firm may not hold client money or securities; discretionary management of each client's portfolio, passported under MiFID II | 6 months from a complete application |
| Swiss portfolio manager and manager of collective assets | CHF 100,000 paid in cash for a portfolio manager under a supervisory organisation; CHF 200,000 for a manager of collective assets, supervised by FINMA itself, for retail funds and above CHF 100 million of qualified-investor funds | FinIA sets no deadline; either may enter the commercial register only after the licence |
| Cayman registered person | Registration for securities investment business only with sophisticated or high net worth persons, companies they own or group companies, with a registered office in Cayman, or for a firm regulated in that business by a recognised overseas regulator; CI$6,000 to register and CI$6,000 a year | Declaration and fee by 15 January; a wider client base needs a full or restricted securities manager licence, typically 6 to 8 weeks |
| BVI approved manager | Approval to manage or advise BVI private, professional and closed-ended funds and equivalent foreign funds, up to US$400 million in total or the FSC guideline amount for closed-ended funds; a BVI company or limited partnership with two directors, one an individual | Filed 7 days before starting; up to 30 days of business pending approval, extendable by 30 |
The names change from one rulebook to the next, the list does not. Each item below is a condition in at least one regime on this page, with that regime's figure.
The laws, regulations, rulebooks and fee schedules behind each figure, linked to the regulator or the official legal portal.
Rules, capital and fees as in force on 4 November 2026. Where a regulator changes a figure, its own text linked here is what counts.
Funds or individual portfolios, retail or professional clients, the assets now and in three years. The answers point to a UCITS, AIFM, MiFID or offshore licence.
A full licence, a registration below the thresholds or an offshore approval, in a country your investors and your funds accept.
The local company, the capital paid in, two managers or responsible officers, the directors and a compliance officer the regulator will approve by name.
Business plan and organisational structure, risk management, compliance and AML manuals, valuation and delegation, depositary or custody arrangements.
The complete file with the regulator's fee, then rounds of questions. The clock in the rules starts when the file is complete.
Entry in the register, then annual fees, own funds monitoring, reports to the regulator and the yearly audit.
The investment licensing market is full of intermediaries selling flags by the unit, several of which are not licences at all. We are a legal and advisory firm: we tell you what a route actually buys, build the file the supervisor examines, and stay on it after authorisation.
60+ specialists work on applications directly. Lawyers, compliance and audit people, not an outsourcing chain of resellers.
Before you pay anyone, you get a written view of which investors the licence reaches, where its perimeter runs, and whether it exists in the jurisdiction you were quoted.
The quote you approve is the price you pay. Government, regulator, audit and registry fees are stated separately and upfront.
Programmes of operations, governance and risk frameworks, conduct and client-asset arrangements and AML/CFT packs drafted to the standards the authority actually examines.
Passporting notifications, prudential and conduct reporting, substance and audit calendars, renewals, and the upgrade path when a firm outgrows the approval it started on.
15 years in FinTech and payments. Maps your service set to the right licence scope and leads the file to the supervisor's decision, including banking, custody and distribution arrangements.
Builds the application itself: the local company, the programme of operations, AML/KYC policy pack, capital structure and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
First point of contact for international founders. Runs the whole setup remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live, authorised investment firm.
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It is a regulator's permission to manage money that belongs to others, as funds or as client portfolios under a mandate. In the EU it takes three forms: authorisation as a UCITS management company, an AIFM licence and a MiFID licence for portfolio management. Elsewhere the names change: Type 9 in Hong Kong, a capital markets services licence for fund management in Singapore, a FINMA licence as portfolio manager or manager of collective assets, an approved manager in the BVI. A wealth management licence usually means one of the portfolio management permissions.
It follows what you manage. Pooled money in a UCITS needs a UCITS management company; any other fund needs an AIFM, licensed or, below the thresholds, registered. Separate client accounts under a mandate need a MiFID portfolio management licence in the EU, with €75,000 of capital if you never hold client money or securities, unless a UCITS management company or an external AIFM adds them to its own authorisation. The permissions can be combined: in Cyprus an AIFM adds portfolio management for €1,500 more on application.
An AIFM licence lets a firm manage alternative investment funds above the AIFMD thresholds. Below them a registration with the home regulator is enough: up to €100 million under management including leverage, or €500 million for unleveraged funds with no redemptions for 5 years (AIFMD art. 3). Some regimes still ask more: Malta licenses even a de minimis AIFM, and in Estonia a small manager that runs a contractual or AS fund needs a licence, not a registration.
In the EU and the UK, €125,000 for a UCITS manager or an external AIFM and €300,000 for a fund that manages itself, plus 0.02% of assets above €250 million. Switzerland asks CHF 200,000 for a manager of collective assets and CHF 100,000 for a portfolio manager; Hong Kong, HK$100,000 of liquid capital if the firm holds no client assets; Singapore, SGD 250,000 for a manager of qualified investors and SGD 1 million for retail funds.
Two official items: the regulator's fees and the capital that stays in the company. Application fees include US$500 in Labuan, SGD 1,000 in Singapore, US$1,200 in the BVI, €2,000 in Cyprus, £11,260 in the UK and €18,000 in Luxembourg; yearly fees include HK$4,740 per activity in Hong Kong, CI$6,000 for a Cayman registered person and €42,000 at the CSSF. Office, staff and audit come on top, and we fix our own fee in writing after a free assessment.
Both cover discretionary management of funds and portfolios. Type 9 needs no paid-up capital and HK$100,000 of liquid capital without client assets, HK$4,740 per activity to apply and two responsible officers; the SFC pledges 15 weeks. Singapore asks SGD 250,000 of base capital for a manager of qualified investors, a resident CEO, two directors and two professionals based there, SGD 1,000 to apply and SGD 4,000 a year; MAS expects up to 6 months. Where the team and the clients are usually settles it.
A light approval from the BVI Financial Services Commission to manage or advise BVI private, professional and closed-ended funds, or equivalent foreign funds, with up to US$400 million in total; for closed-ended funds the limit is set in FSC guidelines. The firm is a BVI business company or limited partnership with two directors, one of them an individual. It files 7 days before starting, may work for 30 days while the FSC decides and pays US$1,200 to apply, then US$1,800 on approval and each year. Past the ceiling it notifies within 7 days and within 3 months must get back under it, apply for a full licence or obtain the FSC's written approval.
Yes, that is what the EU authorisation is for. An AIFM's and a UCITS management company's authorisations are valid in all Member States (AIFMD art. 8(1) and 33, UCITS Directive art. 6(1) and 16): after a notice to the home regulator, the manager can run funds set up in another Member State, directly or through a branch. MiFID II gives a portfolio manager the same passport for its services, and Liechtenstein's asset management company licence also covers the other EEA states. A registered sub-threshold AIFM has no passport unless it opts in to the full directive. The home regulator stays in charge, and the head office has to be in the same country as the registered office.
The rules give the regulator 3 months, extendable by 3, for an EU AIFM and 6 months for a UCITS manager or a MiFID firm. The FCA follows the same split: 3 months, plus up to 3, for a full-scope UK AIFM and 6 months for a UK UCITS manager or a MiFID firm. MAS expects up to 6 months and CIMA typically takes 6 to 8 weeks for a licence. These clocks start when the file is complete (the SFC gives 15 weeks as its usual processing time), so the weeks spent preparing it come first.
They are appointed for the fund, so the answer depends on the fund. In Austria each AIF of a licensed manager has a single depositary, and a Liechtenstein AIF needs one in Liechtenstein plus an audit firm the FMA recognises. For the manager itself the question is client assets: holding none keeps it in the lower tier, €75,000 for a MiFID portfolio manager and HK$100,000 of liquid capital for Type 9.
Tell us what you plan to manage, for which investors and from where, and the assets you expect in the first three years. Our legal team replies in writing with the licence type, the jurisdiction, the capital, the official fees and our fixed fee.
