From strategy to ISIN in weeks: how Actively Managed Certificates are replacing funds as the go-to vehicle for independent asset managers.

Asset managers today are sitting on compelling strategies and losing time, money, and investors trying to package them into traditional fund structures. The Actively Managed Certificate has quietly changed that equation. Faster to launch, cheaper to run, and just as flexible as a fund, the AMC is fast becoming the structure of choice.

Setting up a fund used to be the only serious option for an asset manager looking to formalise a strategy and open it to outside capital. It still works, but it comes with a long list of requirements: regulatory approval, a management company, an administrator, a prospectus, legal fees, and a six-to-eighteen month runway before a single investor can subscribe. For many strategies, especially those targeting a defined group of qualified or institutional investors, that complexity is simply disproportionate to the need.

An Actively Managed Certificate is a structured financial instrument issued under a Swiss ISIN that gives the asset manager full discretion to manage the underlying portfolio dynamically, in real time, exactly as they would a fund. The strategy is securitised into a single tradable security, held at the custodian of choice, and accessible to investors through their existing banking infrastructure. No fund vehicle required.

The practical advantages are hard to ignore. An AMC can be structured and live within four to six weeks. The underlying universe is nearly unlimited: equities, fixed income, private assets, digital assets, commodities, or any combination. Investors subscribe through their bank or broker using a standard ISIN, which means no new onboarding friction for them and no distribution headaches for the manager. Because an AMC is not a collective investment scheme under Swiss law, it sits outside the CISA framework entirely, dramatically reducing regulatory overhead. You can read more about how ISP structures AMCs.

AMCs are particularly well-suited for strategies that require frequent rebalancing, for niche or thematic mandates that would struggle to attract enough AUM to justify a full fund launch, and for crypto or digital asset strategies where the investment universe requires a specialist issuer with the right regulatory infrastructure. They are equally effective as the underlying vehicle inside a Private Placement Life Insurance structure, a combination that adds a meaningful layer of tax efficiency for wealth planning clients.

If you have a strategy worth investing in, an AMC is likely the fastest, cleanest path to getting it in front of the right investors. To discuss your specific situation, reach out directly to Maxime Caboche at ISP Group.