Regulator threatens “revolutionary” approach to achieve asset management transparency
Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is to call for greater transparency in asset management at today's 2013 FCA Asset Management Conference.
Wheatley will say that "this is a critical period for the industry" and that the FCA will now ask challenging questions.
Are we internationally competitive? Are charges and fees transparent? Are there inherent conflicts within the system?
The asset management sector is comrpised of 2,100 authorised firms, and employs more than 29,000 people across the UK with a total of £5.2 trillion assets under management.
Wheatley says that "we need to be confident" that managers place value for money for clients, returns and transparency at the heart of how they do business.
Hinting at the possibility of harsher rules, Wheatley said that the discussion must be about those ends are achieved – "is evolution enough or do we collectively need to be more revolutionary?"