FSA launches crackdown on ACDs after Arch cru debacle

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has launched a crackdown on ACDs operating in the UK in the wake of the Arch cru scandal, as one major player confirms it is pulling back from the market.

Investment Week understands International Financial Data Services (IFDS), one of the most well known authorised corporate directors (ACDs), has stopped taking on any new ACD business, and is looking to work down and then offload its existing book. Its decision comes amid a review of all ACDs in the UK by the FSA. ACDs are the legal owners of funds, and effectively 'employ' fund managers to run the money invested, holding quarterly meetings with fund groups to monitor investment decisions. The FSA has been holding meetings with UK ACDs, asking exactly how they challenge the investme...