Wu Qi, a reporter from the Securities Times
Recently, there have been a lot of rumors in the fund industry, such as personnel changes and salary changes, all kinds of speculation and rumors, including star fund managers.SafariSpin-a-thonThe rumors of leaving are even more buzzing.
Since the media era, all kinds of speculation and conjecture have aggravated the false information.SafariSpin-a-thonThe spread of the fund has caused great trouble to the fund practitioners and fund holders. As the main object of information dissemination, fund companies are mostly tight-lipped, and the disclosure of some important information is also secretive.
It should be noted that if fund companies do not fully disclose some important information, or lead to information asymmetry among different investors, it will even lead to the loss of investment income. As trustees in legal relations, fund companies have fiduciary obligations to all clients, and should actively fulfill their fiduciary obligations. At the same time, fund companies, regulators, fund holders and other aspects still need to make long-term efforts to reduce and avoid information asymmetry.
Fund companies are questioned that the letter is insufficient
In May, the products managed by the star fund managers of a fund company hired more fund managers one after another, and the rumors of the departure of the star fund managers were buzzing. The fund company did not respond directly to the rumors of leaving, saying only that the follow-up arrangements would be subject to the announcement and that information obtained from other unofficial sources should not be trusted or speculated.
Some portfolio managers told the Securities Times that fund companies are always secretive about some important information, such as the changes of some well-known fund managers are often released at night or on weekends, which are easy to be ignored.
In view of the fact that fund managers are secretive about the disclosure of important personnel change information, Tianxiang believes that there may be two reasons: first, for the purpose of stabilizing the market and investor confidence, fund managers are worried that if they do not control the pace and time of disclosure of personnel change information, it may expand the volatility caused by the information to the market, thus affecting investors' confidence. Second, for the purpose of public relations strategy and maintaining brand image, fund managers may hope to control the rhythm and way of information disclosure, to minimize the negative impact of major personnel changes, including well-known fund managers and executives, on managers' brand image and attractiveness.
"it may be due to the consideration of reducing the concern of public opinion and reducing the risk of fluctuations in the net worth of the fund." Yuan Ye, a lawyer who once worked in a leading law firm and has a deep career in the field of asset management law, pointed out that according to Article 21, item 10 of the measures for the Administration of Information Disclosure of publicly offered Securities Investment funds, the personnel changes of fund managers and senior executives of fund companies may have a "significant impact" on the net value of the fund, thus affecting the rights and interests of the people, so it is a "major event" that should be disclosed temporarily. The relevant changes shall be disclosed "within two days". 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, so there is a certain compliance risk.
It is worth noting that even though some rumors have been in an uproar and continued to ferment, 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 people, and many fund companies, especially the head fund companies, have a large number of users, and the relevant major personnel changes in fund companies may affect the internal governance of the company. cause widespread concern and even panic among investors, which in turn 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", which is understandable and, to some extent, a sign of safeguarding the interests of investors. However, if the relevant "rumors" belong to the scope of legal information disclosure, fund companies should disclose and respond in a timely manner in accordance with the law.
Or lead to information asymmetry between different investors
In fact, most individual investors are scattered at all levels of society.SafariSpin-a-thonIt is difficult to have direct access to fund companies or fund managers and the relevant information is generally available only through the official media. Because the trust of fund companies is insufficient, many investors can not obtain this information effectively and in time. On the other hand, institutional investors or important individual investors have obvious advantages in obtaining important information of the fund, and can communicate with fund companies and fund managers directly or through sales channels.
It is worth noting that if the disclosure of some important information by fund companies is so secretive that the information is not known by the majority of holders, it will also be considered to be inadequate.
The insufficient information 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 departure announcement is disclosed, and these redemptions are mostly considered to be the operation of investors who have been informed of the departure information in advance.
In view of this phenomenon, Tianxiang Tougu believes that, first of all, when institutional customers get more information than individual investors, institutional customers may use this information to make investment decisions, thus gaining an unfair advantage 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 because of the lack of sufficient information, which leads to the loss of investment income.
Does this kind of 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 make natural person clients in a weak position in information and unable to make corresponding operations in a timely manner (such as redemption funds), resulting in investment losses. This is legally unfair to investors. The fund company belongs to the trustee in the trust law in the legal relationship, and the fund company has a fiduciary duty to all clients, whether they are 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." According to trust laws, relevant regulations and many judicial and regulatory cases, the fiduciary obligations of fund companies include the duty of loyalty to "treat investors fairly", Mr Yuan said. Article 30 of the measures for the Administration of Information Disclosure of publicly offered Securities Investment funds also stipulates that fund companies'"independent information disclosure" outside the legal channels is based on "fair treatment of investors".
How to reduce information asymmetry
The asset management industry is an industry with people as the core, and the core competitiveness is talents. Therefore, the loss of important talents undoubtedly has a great impact on the company and the research team. A well-known fund investor told reporters that screening active equity fund products is to select fund managers, and the returns of active equity fund products are mainly determined by the investment ability of fund managers. Therefore, once there are rumors of the departure of well-known fund managers in the market, with the attitude of being responsible for the performance of the fund investment portfolio, they will decisively remove the relevant products from the investment portfolio or investment portfolio pool.
However, according to a reporter's investigation, fund investors' access to fund information is mainly an official channel, and most investors know little about such information as rumors of the departure of fund managers, and only a small number of active investors learn one or two from various social platforms.
How to reduce this kind of information asymmetry? "the solution to the problem of information asymmetry requires the long-term efforts of fund companies, regulators, fund holders and even judicial organs and legislatures." Yuan Ye said that fund companies should strictly abide by the existing laws and regulations on information disclosure, consciously fulfill their obligations of diligence, and uphold the principle of putting the interests of investors first for relevant matters not clearly stipulated in laws and regulations. as far as possible to ensure that ordinary people can obtain relevant information in a fair and timely manner. Legislation, supervision and judicial departments should further promote the relevant legislation, refine the relevant provisions, and timely take regulatory measures or make judgments on illegal cases.
"as far as fund managers are concerned, by organizing investor education activities and strengthening communication with investors, we can popularize fund investment knowledge to investors, improve investors' investment ability, and promote correct investment ideas. and then reduce the negative impact of information asymmetry on investors." Tianxiang Tougu believes that 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 Tougu 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 teamwork, platform, and integrated investment and research system, increase the proportion of investment and research personnel, improve the echelon training plan for investment and research personnel, do a good job in the accumulation and inheritance of investment and research ability, and reverse the development model of over-reliance 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 get special treatment and obtain information only through legal and open channels, otherwise there may be legal risks that constitute insider trading.