Sub-paragraph 3: Investment rules.

I. - A general purpose investment fund may not invest more than :

1° 5% of its assets in eligible financial securities or money market instruments issued by the same issuer ;

2° 20% of its assets in eligible financial securities or money market instruments issued by the same entity;

3° 20% of its assets in deposits placed with the same entity.

The general-purpose investment fund's counterparty risk on a single counterparty resulting from over-the-counter financial contracts may not exceed 10% of its assets when the counterparty is a credit institution mentioned in the second paragraph of II of article R. 214-32-28 and 5% in other cases.

II. - As an exception to the 5% limit set in 1° of I, a general purpose investment fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in eligible financial securities or money market instruments issued by the same issuer. However, the total value of eligible financial securities and money market instruments held by the general-purpose investment fund with issuers in each of which it invests more than 5% of its assets may not exceed 40% of the value of its assets.

III. - Notwithstanding the individual limits set out in I and II, a general-purpose investment fund may not combine more than 20% of its assets in any one entity, if this would result in the fund investing more than 20% of its assets in any one of the following:

1° Investments in eligible financial securities or money market instruments issued by the said entity ;

2° Deposits with the said entity;

3° Risks arising from over-the-counter financial contract transactions with the said entity.

IV. - By way of derogation from the limits laid down in 1° and 2° of I, a general-purpose investment fund :

1° May invest in eligible financial securities and money market instruments referred to in 1° or 2° of I of article L. 214-24-55 issued or guaranteed by the same entity up to 35% of its assets if these securities or instruments are issued or guaranteed by a Member State of the European Union or another State party to the agreement on the European Economic Area, by its local authorities, by a third country or by public international bodies to which one or more Member States of the European Union or other States party to the agreement on the European Economic Area belong, or if they are securities issued by the social debt redemption fund;

2° May invest up to 25% of its assets in bonds issued by a single entity if these securities are obligations foncières issued by sociétés de crédit foncier in application of 2° of I of article L. 513-2, housing finance bonds issued by sociétés de financement de l'habitat in application of I of article L. 513-30, other preferential resources mentioned in 2° of I of article L. 513-2, or bonds issued by a credit institution which has its registered office in a Member State of the European Union or in another State party to the agreement on the European Economic Area and which is legally subject to special supervision by the public authorities designed to protect bondholders.

In particular, the sums deriving from the issue of these bonds are invested, in accordance with the law, in assets which, throughout the period of validity of the bonds, can cover the claims arising from the bonds and which are allocated by privilege to the repayment of the capital and the payment of accrued interest in the event of default by the issuer.

The derogation provided for in this 2° also applies to bonds issued by a credit institution whose sole purpose is to refinance promissory notes complying with the provisions of articles L. 313-42 to L. 313-49, issued to mobilise long-term receivables representing housing loans, on condition that these bonds have identical characteristics to those of the notes.

V. - When a general-purpose investment fund invests more than 5% of its assets in the bonds mentioned in 2° of IV and issued by the same issuer, the total value of these investments does not exceed 80% of the value of the assets of the general-purpose investment fund.

VI. - The eligible financial securities and money market instruments mentioned in IV are not taken into account when applying the 40% limit stipulated in II.

VII. - The limits laid down in I to V may not be combined and, consequently, investments in eligible financial securities, debt securities or money market instruments issued by the same entity or in deposits or financial contracts entered into with this entity in accordance with I to V of this article may under no circumstances exceed a total of 35% of the assets of the general-purpose investment fund.

VIII. - Companies which are grouped together for the purpose of consolidating their accounts within the meaning of Directive 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983 or in accordance with recognised international accounting rules are considered as a single entity for the purpose of calculating the limits laid down in this article.