Pressure mounts on fund board independence

Last year saw some titanic battles in the closed-ended fund space, as activist investors flexed their muscles and challenged investment trust boards on issues including fund performance and value for money.

Now the focus appears to have shifted to the open-ended fund space, where there is still much work to be done to make boards work more effectively for end investors and provide what OMGI CEO Richard Buxton recently described as "robust challenge" to investment managers. The FCA is pushing for change in this area as part of its Asset Management Market Study. Cultural shift needed as asset managers at inflection point It found in last November's interim report that "governance bodies, whether in-house or outsourced, lack independence from the fund managers and do not appear to exert ...