Have I got dues for you

Anyone who came to the UCIS roadshow I chaired recently around the UK will have heard about the issue of due diligence and the need to do it on an ongoing basis.

This is not something confined to unregulated investments but also regulated structures and clearly is a challenge to advisers. How far can you and must you go? Legitimate questions, and there are no definitive answers. In the case of structured investments, it is relatively easy to do. If you buy a structure based on the credit rating of the underlying counterparty, you have a duty to monitor that ongoing rating. Easy enough to do – just plug in a Google alert and watch out for a change to come through from one of the ratings agencies. Now, of course, it might be another matter as to...