This study aims to analyse the provisions of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (2011/61/EU) which pertain to its scope. It is divided into two Sections:(a) Section A offers an overview of the legal framework governing alternative...

This study assesses the effects of Dodd-Frank Act compliance costs on the private fund industry. Using hand-selected compliance cost estimates from private fund advisers (N=94) the study shows with two independent datasets that the number of funds managed by private fund advisers is associated...

This paper investigates whether the relationship between investment banks and their affiliated funds helps the funds deliver superior performance due to the information advantage or whether it costs the funds due to the conflict of interest. Using firms with class-action lawsuits, I examine...

Regulatory agencies are created to act in the public interest but often end up acting in the interests of those regulated. This is known as regulatory capture. The mutual fund industry is the custodian of massive levels of wealth of the investing public and is regulated by the Securities...

There is mounting evidence that retail investors make predictable, costly investment mistakes, including underinvestment, naïve diversification, and payment of excessive fund fees. Over the past thirty-five years, however, participant-directed 401(k) plans have largely replaced professionally...

We examine the governance role of delegated portfolio managers. In our model, investors decide how to allocate their wealth between passive funds, active funds, and private savings, and asset management fees are endogenously determined. Funds' ownership stakes and asset management fees determine...

Despite their incredible popularity and importance to modern capital markets, exchange traded funds (ETFs) are extremely difficult to compare side-by-side. Investors who successfully navigate the initial challenges of product choice overload, and opaque index construction methodology, soon...

Mutual funds are structurally different from other corporations. The corporation or trust is controlled by an external entity, an investment management firm that profits from fees charged to manage the fund's portfolio. Recognizing this fundamental conflict of interest, in 1970 Congress made...

The proliferation of unconstrained mutual funds calls into question the effectiveness of retail investor protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Analyzing trading data and prospectuses of a hand-selected sample of all unconstrained mutual funds launched from 2010 through 2015...