Log in to Sina Finance APP to search [Xinpi] to see more evaluation grades
Recently, there have been many rumors about personnel changes and salary changes in the fund industry, and various speculations and rumors have arisen, including the rumors of star fund managers leaving.
In the era of We Media, various guesses and conjectures have intensified the spread of false information, causing great trouble to fund practitioners and fund holders. However, as the main object of information dissemination, most fund companies are secretive and cover up the disclosure of some important information.
It should be noted that if the fund company does not fully disclose some important information, or leads to information asymmetry between different investors, it may even lead to loss of investment income. As the trustee in the legal relationship, the fund company has a fiduciary duty to all clients, and should actively perform the fiduciary duty. At the same time, fund companies, regulators, fund holders and other aspects still need long-term efforts to reduce and avoid information asymmetry.
The fund company is questioned for insufficient credit
In May, the products managed by a star fund manager of a fund company successively recruited fund managers, and rumors of the star fund manager's resignation were rife. The fund company did not directly respond to the rumor of resignation, but said to the public that the subsequent arrangements should be subject to the announcement, and information obtained through other unofficial channels should not be taken lightly or speculated arbitrarily.
Some fund portfolio managers told the Securities Times reporter that fund companies always cover up the disclosure of some important information, such as the change information of some well-known fund managers is often released at night or on weekends, which is easy to be ignored.
In view of the fact that the fund manager conceals the disclosure of important personnel change information, Tianxiang Investment Counselor believes that there may be two reasons: first, for the purpose of stabilizing the market and investor confidence, the fund manager is worried that if the disclosure rhythm and time point of personnel change information are not controlled, the fluctuation of information on the market may be expanded, So as to affect the confidence of investors; Second, for the purpose of public relations strategy and brand image maintenance, fund managers may want to control the pace and way of information disclosure to minimize the negative impact of major personnel changes, including well-known fund managers and executives, on the manager's brand image and attractiveness.
"It may be due to the consideration of reducing public attention and the risk of fluctuation of fund net value." Yuan Ye, a lawyer who once worked in a leading law firm and deeply cultivated in the field of asset management law, pointed out that according to the provisions of Item 10, Article 21 of the Administrative Measures for Information Disclosure of Publicly Offered Securities Investment Funds, The personnel changes of fund managers and fund company executives may have a "significant impact" on the net fund value, thereby affecting the rights and interests of funders. Therefore, it is a "major event" that should be disclosed temporarily and should be disclosed "within two days" of the relevant changes. Although this article does not stipulate that disclosure must be made on working days, Article 2 of the Measures stipulates that the information disclosure of fund companies should be "concise" and "accessible". Deliberate disclosure late at night or on weekends may hinder investors from obtaining relevant information conveniently and in a timely manner, and therefore there is a certain compliance risk.
It is worth noting that even though some rumors have been bubbling and fermenting, some fund companies have not responded positively. What is the purpose of the fund company?
In this regard, Yuan Ye believes that the investors of public funds are mainly ordinary funders, and many fund companies, especially the head fund companies, have a large number of users. Major personnel changes in fund companies may affect the internal governance of the company, causing widespread concern or even panic among investors, which will affect market stability. Therefore, fund companies attach great importance to their own reputation, are very cautious in handling public opinion, and are often unwilling to respond positively to relevant "rumors". This is understandable, and to some extent, it is also a performance of safeguarding the interests of investors. However, if the relevant "hearsay" falls within the scope of statutory information disclosure, the fund company shall disclose and respond in a timely manner in accordance with laws and regulations.
Or asymmetric information among different investors
In fact, most individual investors are scattered at all levels of society, and it is difficult to directly contact fund companies or fund managers. Generally, they can only obtain relevant information through official media. Due to insufficient trust of fund companies, many investors cannot effectively and timely obtain such information. In contrast, institutional investors or important individual investors have obvious advantages in obtaining important fund information, and can communicate with fund companies and fund managers directly or through sales channels.
It is worth noting that if the fund company conceals the disclosure of some important information, resulting in the information not being known by the majority of holders, it will also be considered as insufficient information disclosure.
The insufficient trust of fund companies leads to more information asymmetry among different investors. The reporter combed the data and found that the management scale of some well-known fund managers will always be redeemed to a certain extent before the resignation announcement is disclosed. These redemptions are mostly regarded as the operation of investors who have learned the resignation information in advance.
In view of this phenomenon, Tianxiang Investment Advisor believes that, first of all, when institutional clients obtain more information than individual investors, they may use this information to make investment decisions, thus obtaining unfair advantages in the market. This situation is unfair to individual investors, and will also affect the holding experience of individual investors. In addition, individual investors may be unable to make appropriate investment decisions due to lack of sufficient information, which will lead to loss of investment income.
Does this information asymmetry cause losses to the interests of fund holders? Yuan Ye pointed out that the asymmetry of information acquisition channels between institutional clients and natural person clients of fund companies may place natural person clients in a weak position of information and prevent them from making corresponding operations in time (such as redemption of funds), thus leading to investment losses. This is unfair to investors in law. The fund company is a trustee in the trust law in terms of legal relationship. The fund company has a fiduciary obligation to all clients, whether institutional investors or ordinary natural person investors.
"Fund companies should avoid setting up special channels for institutional clients to obtain information and ensure that all clients are treated fairly in information disclosure." Yuan Ye said that according to the trust law, relevant regulatory regulations and many judicial and regulatory cases, the fiduciary obligations of fund companies include the faithful obligation of "treating investors fairly". Article 30 of the Administrative Measures for Information Disclosure of Publicly Offered Securities Investment Funds also stipulates that the premise of "independent information disclosure" of fund companies outside the statutory channels is to "treat investors fairly".
How to reduce information asymmetry
The asset management industry is a human centered industry, and the core competitiveness is talents. Therefore, the loss of important talents undoubtedly has a greater impact on the company and the investment research team. A well-known fund investment adviser told the reporter that selecting active equity fund products is to select fund managers, and the return of active equity fund products is mainly determined by the investment ability of fund managers. Therefore, once there is a rumor about the resignation of a well-known fund manager in the market, with the attitude of being responsible for the performance of the fund investment adviser portfolio, he will resolutely remove the relevant products from the investment adviser portfolio or the investment adviser portfolio pool.
However, according to the reporter's investigation, the fund investors' access to fund information is mainly through official channels. Most investors know little about such information as fund manager resignation rumors, and only a small number of active investors learn about it from various social platforms.
How to reduce such information asymmetry? "The solution to the problem of information asymmetry requires the long-term efforts of fund companies, regulators, fund holders and even judicial and legislative authorities." Yuan Ye said that fund companies should strictly abide by the existing laws and regulations on information disclosure, and consciously perform their duty of diligence. For matters not clearly stipulated in laws and regulations, they should adhere to the principle of putting investors' interests first, Try to ensure that ordinary citizens can obtain relevant information in a fair and timely manner. The legislative, regulatory and judicial departments should further promote relevant legislation, refine relevant provisions, and take timely regulatory measures or make judgments on illegal cases.
"For fund managers, they can popularize fund investment knowledge to investors, improve their investment ability, and publicize correct investment concepts by holding investor education activities and strengthening communication with investors, so as to reduce the negative impact of asymmetric information on investors," said Tian Xiang Investment Counselor, Fund managers should also consciously abide by industry norms, strengthen self-discipline management, and improve the standardization and accuracy of information disclosure.
"For individual investors, they should not blindly pursue well-known fund managers." Tianxiang Investment Advisors pointed out that the Opinions on Accelerating the High Quality Development of the Public Offering Fund Industry clearly pointed out that fund managers should be guided to build a team based, platform based and integrated investment research system, increase the proportion of investment research personnel, and improve the echelon training plan for investment research personnel, Do a good job in the accumulation and inheritance of investment research capabilities, and reverse the development model of excessive dependence on star fund managers. Therefore, when making investment decisions, individual investors should comprehensively consider various factors or consult professional investment institutions.
Yuan Ye stressed that fund holders, especially institutional investors, should avoid trying to obtain special treatment and only obtain information through legal and open channels, otherwise there may be legal risks that constitute insider trading.
Massive information, accurate interpretation, all in Sina Finance APP
Editor in charge: Yang Hongyan
