Hug, Andrej MichaelAndrej MichaelHug2023-04-132023-04-132021-09-20https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/109919On a limited scale, share classes offer the possibility of adapting an investment funds general conditions to the needs of different investor groups. Foreign currency share classes are primarily distinguished by their nominal currency, which differs from the investment funds accounting currency. UCITS represent the European form of a mutual fund. Due to the identified diverging national practices in the use of UCITS share classes, ESMA issued an opinion in 2017 explicitly advocating the offer of currency-hedged foreign currency share classes as one way of ensuring that all fund investors share the same performance of the common investment portfolio to the greatest extent possible. Based on a sample of UCITS domiciled in Liechtenstein, the present research shows that the currency hedging of UCITS share classes is widespread. From a regulatory viewpoint, the prevailing disclosure practice in this context must be judged inadequate. However, from an economic stance, no agency costs can be proven from missing or insufficient disclosures in fund prospectuses. The results of a multiple regression analysis, including several potential determinants for the performance tracking error between the base and foreign currency share classes, suggest that currency hedging is implemented systematically at the share class level.deInvestmentfondsPublizitätFremdwährungHedgingEDIS-5112mutual fundsOGAWUCITSshare classPublikumsfondsTracking ErrorWährungsabsicherungfx hedgingdisclosureAnteilsklassedoctoral thesis