The short answer

An Actively Managed Certificate (AMC) is a debt security issued by a bank or a dedicated issuance vehicle. Its value follows a reference portfolio that a named manager runs at their discretion, within written investment guidelines. The certificate carries its own ISIN, settles through the same clearing systems as shares and bonds, and sits in an investor's custody account like any other holding.

For the investor, an AMC is one line in a portfolio: one security to buy, value and sell. For the manager, it is a way to package a strategy without setting up a fund, and to reach investors whose banks will only buy securities they can book, price and hold.

How an AMC works

Every AMC has the same basic parts, whatever sits inside it:

1. The issuerA bank or a securitisation vehicle, often a compartment of one, issues the certificate and owes investors its value.
2. The reference portfolioThe assets whose value the certificate follows, held by or for the issuer.
3. The portfolio managerDecides what the portfolio holds, within the agreed investment guidelines.
4. The ISIN and clearingThe identifier and settlement route that let any bank book and hold the certificate.
5. The service providersPaying agent, custodian and calculation agent handle cash, safekeeping and the regular valuation.

The investor never holds the underlying assets directly. They hold a claim on the issuer, whose payment obligation is set by the value of the reference portfolio. This is what makes the instrument bankable, and it is also the source of the main risk (see below).

What “actively managed” means

The difference between an AMC and a tracker certificate is who decides what the portfolio holds. In a tracker, a fixed basket or a rules-based index decides, and nobody rebalances at their own discretion. In an AMC, a portfolio manager can buy, sell and reweight positions at any time, within the investment guidelines set out at launch.

Those guidelines matter. They define the eligible assets, concentration limits, leverage, and how often the portfolio is valued. A well-written set of guidelines gives the manager room to manage while giving investors and the issuer a clear picture of what they are exposed to.

What can sit inside an AMC

Listed shares, bonds, ETFs and cash are the most common holdings, and they are the simplest to value and to trade. But the structure is not limited to them. Through an issuer or compartment that can hold them, AMCs have been built on private company shares, music royalties, collectible cars, real estate and digital assets. The more unusual the underlying asset, the more work goes into valuation, custody and liquidity terms. It is the same mechanism with more engineering.

Example of our structuring work · Live issuanceES Core Index AMC, designed by Blackbull, goes liveThe ES Core Index AMC, designed and engineered for Exponential Science Capital — an organisation focused on accelerating the widespread adoption of exponential technologies — is officially live and ready for subscriptions. Read the release →

Costs and timeline

Compared with a fund, an AMC is usually quicker and cheaper to launch, because there is no new legal entity to set up and no fund authorisation to obtain. The costs that remain are a one-off structuring and issuance fee, then running fees for the issuer, the paying agent, custody and calculation, plus the manager's own fee. The exact figures depend on the issuer, the underlying assets and the expected size.

Timing depends mostly on issuer onboarding: compliance review of the manager and the assets, documentation and the ISIN. A liquid, listed strategy moves fastest. A private or alternative underlying takes longer, because valuation and custody have to be agreed first.

Risks to understand

• Issuer risk. The certificate is a debt obligation of the issuer. If the issuer defaults, investors may lose money even if the portfolio performed well, unless the structure is collateralised or ring-fenced in a segregated compartment.
• Manager risk. Performance depends on the manager's decisions within the guidelines.
• Liquidity. Secondary trading usually depends on the issuer or a market maker buying back. It is not a deep exchange market.
• Valuation. For anything other than listed assets, the price of the certificate is only as good as the valuation behind it.
• No fund protections. An AMC is not a collective investment scheme, so it does not carry the regulatory safeguards that come with an authorised fund.

General information only. This is not financial advice. See the important information at the foot of this page.