Recital 2

(2)Currently, competent authorities and industry apply the asset segregation requirements laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/438 ² differently. While depositaries, which are at the first level in a custody chain, have the obligation to provide an individual account to hold financial instruments for each UCITS client, it is necessary to clarify that where the custody function is delegated to a third party, the latter should be able to hold assets of one depositary's clients, including the assets for UCITS and Alternative Investment Funds (‘AIFs’), in an omnibus account. This omnibus account should always exclude the proprietary assets of the depositary and the third party's proprietary assets as well as assets belonging to other clients of the third party. Correspondingly, in cases where custody function is further delegated, the sub-custodian should be able to hold assets of the delegating custodian's clients in an omnibus account. This omnibus account should always exclude the sub-custodian's proprietary assets and proprietary assets of the delegating custodian as well as assets belonging to other clients of the sub-custodian. This is necessary in order to achieve a healthy balance between the market efficiency and investor protection.