The Maples Group maintains a unique position in the European market in providing a one-stop-shop for legal advice, registrations and listing services for Exchange Traded Funds (“ETFs”) being established in Ireland or Luxembourg. The Group has earned industry-wide recognition for providing bespoke, innovative, client focussed solutions for the establishment and market entry of ETFs on a multi-jurisdictional basis.
Combining expert local knowledge and full project management functionality, the Maples Group delivers a comprehensive suite of solutions to ETF issuers and managers. We currently represent more than 210 ETFs and advise a number of issuers of Irish-domiciled ETFs including numerous innovative products comprising institutional banks as well as niche issuers.
Our ETF team has won a number of awards in recognition of this expertise, including the Finance Dublin Financial Services ETF Deal of the Year 2022 in advising a well-established investment manager firm on their initial expansion into the European ETF market. We were also the recipient of the Finance Dublin ETF Deal of the Year in 2021, involving the cross-border merger of three mutual funds into a newly established umbrella ETF authorised as a UCITS, which represented a novel fund conversion from mutual to exchange-traded. Our unique experience of having led on the first European cross border, mutual fund conversion to an ETF in 2021 required integration of the necessary elements of the ETF ecosystem into a previously existing mutual fund context.
The Maples Group has been active in the ETF space for approximately 20 years and provides a market-leading offering, encompassing legal advice, registration and passporting services as well as assisting clients with applications for admission to list on major stock exchanges in Europe.
The Maples Group takes an active role in industry development on ETF matters through our role as Vice Chair of the Irish Funds ETF Working Group, the EFAMA ETF Working Group and with leadership committee representation as members of Women in ETFs.
For further details on our wider ETF service offering please visit our Global Registration Services and Listing Services pages.
With conversions of open-ended funds to ETFs likely to accelerate in Europe, what should fund boards consider before consenting to a conversion?
In this article published by Ignites Europe, Dublin-based Funds & Investment Management Partner Deirdre McIlvenna stresses the importance of fund boards considering the impact of an ETF conversion from a shareholder perspective.
Assets in European ETFs, currently over $2.1 trillion, are forecasted to rise 15% annually until 2030.
In this article published by Irish Funds, the Maples Group ETF team discuss the most common routes available for managers looking to enter the European ETF space.
In April 2025, the Central Bank of Ireland published an updated UCITS Q&A which amended its position in relation to portfolio transparency.
This article outlines why our EFT team believe these updated rules represent a positive development for asset managers looking to launch active ETFs in Europe.
In this panel discussion, the Maples Group ETF team examine the legal and operational considerations to be taken into account in the ETF ecosystem when considering a Mutual Fund to ETF conversion.
We shed light on the core considerations for investors and managers to assess from a regulatory perspective including relevant marketing permissions, market notification filings, assessment of the current market that the mutual fund is registered as well as further Global Registration aspects.
