Fund groups with 'fragmented' record-keeping risk Invesco-style fines

Larger fund managers with 'fragmented' manual record-keeping processes risk fines from a more inquisitive regulator, according to a compliance specialist.

The warning follows last week’s shock reprimand for asset management giant Invesco Perpetual. The group was fined a total of £18.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for failing to comply with its regulatory obligations. Among the practices the FCA uncovered, along with risk limit breaches and communication failures, was the use of old-fashioned pen and paper methods to record trades. Bovill head of funds Ashley Kovas, who spent eight years working for the Financial Services Authority, said firms using manual systems may struggle to ensure record-keeping is up to date. He sa...