The Financial Conduct Authority has granted firms a temporary extension to implement the ‘naming and marketing’ sustainability rules as part of its Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime.
The SDR and investment labels regime came into effect in November 2023, and was introduced by the regulator in order to protect investors by helping them to make more informed decisions when investing. Whilst it has been recognised that many firms have already made significant progress wishing to use the labels and to comply with the new rules, others require more time to meet the higher standards and prepare the disclosures needed for FCA approval.
The 4 month temporary extension applies to all UK authorised investment funds who need additional time to implement the necessary changes required, but only in "exceptional circumstances", where the firm has submitted a completed application for approval of amended disclosure for their fund by 1st October 2024.
Furthermore, the firm needs to already use one or more of the terms "sustainable", "sustainability", or "impact" in the fund name and intend either to use a label, or to change the fund name.
Firms who can comply with the new naming rules before the original 2nd December 2024 deadline are still expected to do so. They must also continue to comply with all other relevant rules, including the anti-greenwashing rule.
The temporary extension came in to effect on 9 September and will run until 2nd April 2025 at 5pm.
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