The new act on investment funds, adopted on Tuesday, expands the definition of investment funds to any funds that collect assets by investors.

This means the regulation now includes higher-risk funds that are the provenance of professional investors, as opposed to only those collecting money from small investors.

Such riskier funds, which had previously not been regulated, include hedge funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds and startup funds.

As a result, MPs also adopted Thursday an act specifically dealing with the rules for the managers of such "alternative funds" for professional investors.

The changes are in line with the latest EU directives, according to the Finance Ministry.

A total of 113 investment funds operated in Slovenia as at the end of 2014 and they had EUR 2.1bn in assets under management.