IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v97y2024ics1062976924000978.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of a new regulatory policy on thematic and monthly distribution funds in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Kitamura, Tomoki
  • Omori, Kozo

Abstract

The Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA), the country’s financial regulatory body, is concerned with business conduct surrounding mutual fund sales in Japan, especially regarding thematic and monthly distribution funds. The agency introduced a new regulatory policy in 2015 to encourage competition to provide high-quality, customer-oriented financial products and services. Unlike traditional regulation, this policy is based on the comply-or-explain approach, which does not mandate compliance. We utilize a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to examine whether this policy induces changes in the behavior of fund distributors regarding the promotion of these funds. We find that the effectiveness of the policy is not uniform. The policy has a limited impact on reducing fund flows and the size of thematic and monthly distribution funds among active funds, which include equity, bond, and balanced funds. By contrast, we find some evidence that the policy has reduced the fund flows and the size of equity thematic and monthly distribution funds relative to low-cost equity index funds. We find that the comply-or-explain approach alone may not suffice to regulate these fund sales, as distributors and managers can pursue their own interests. In addition, the effectiveness of the approach also depends on investors’ behavior, which may be hindered by a lack of sophistication in understanding the characteristics of these funds.

Suggested Citation

  • Kitamura, Tomoki & Omori, Kozo, 2024. "Impact of a new regulatory policy on thematic and monthly distribution funds in Japan," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:97:y:2024:i:c:s1062976924000978
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2024.101891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976924000978
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2024.101891?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andres, Christian & Theissen, Erik, 2008. "Setting a fox to keep the geese -- Does the comply-or-explain principle work?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 289-301, June.
    2. Samuel M. Hartzmark & Abigail B. Sussman, 2019. "Do Investors Value Sustainability? A Natural Experiment Examining Ranking and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 2789-2837, December.
    3. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:5:p:1589-1622 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Santosh Anagol & Hugh Hoikwang Kim, 2012. "The Impact of Shrouded Fees: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the Indian Mutual Funds Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 576-593, February.
    5. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    6. Susan E. K. Christoffersen & David K. Musto, 2002. "Demand Curves and the Pricing of Money Management," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(5), pages 1499-1524.
    7. Koye Somefun & Romain Perchet & Chenyang Yin & Raul Leote de Carvalho, 2023. "Allocating to Thematic Investments," Financial Analysts Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(1), pages 18-36, January.
    8. Florian Methling & Rüdiger Nitzsch, 2019. "Thematic portfolio optimization: challenging the core satellite approach," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 33(2), pages 133-154, June.
    9. Khorana, Ajay & Servaes, Henri & Tufano, Peter, 2005. "Explaining the size of the mutual fund industry around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 145-185, October.
    10. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    11. Aneesh Raghunandan & Shiva Rajgopal, 2022. "Do ESG funds make stakeholder-friendly investments?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 822-863, September.
    12. Omori, Kozo & Kitamura, Tomoki, 2023. "Investor response to Morningstar's ratings, category information, and alpha in the Japanese mutual fund market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    13. Cremers, Martijn & Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro & Starks, Laura, 2016. "Indexing and active fund management: International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 539-560.
    14. Ajay Khorana & Henri Servaes & Peter Tufano, 2009. "Mutual Fund Fees Around the World," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1279-1310.
    15. Marcello Bianchi & Angela Ciavarella & Valerio Novembre & Rossella Signoretti, 2011. "Comply or Explain: Investor Protection Through the Italian Corporate Governance Code," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 23(1), pages 107-121, January.
    16. Igor Goncharov & Joerg Richard Werner & Jochen Zimmermann, 2006. "Does Compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code Have an Impact on Stock Valuation? An empirical analysis," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 432-445, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mugerman, Yevgeny & Steinberg, Nadav & Wiener, Zvi, 2022. "The exclamation mark of Cain: Risk salience and mutual fund flows," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    2. Lang, Gunnar & Köhler, Matthias, 2011. "How does the domiciliation decision affect mutual fund fees?," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-085, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Xu, Ruihui & Zhang, Xuliang & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Yan, Cheng, 2023. "Investor flow-chasing and price–performance puzzle: Evidence from global infrastructure funds," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Chen, Yihao & Miguel, Antonio F. & Liu, Xiayue, 2021. "Does mutual fund family size matter? International evidence," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Javier Vidal-García & Marta Vidal & Sabri Boubaker & Majdi Hassan, 2018. "The efficiency of mutual funds," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 267(1), pages 555-584, August.
    6. Keswani, Aneel & Medhat, Mamdouh & Miguel, Antonio F. & Ramos, Sofia B., 2020. "Uncertainty avoidance and mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Meryem Mehri & M. Kabir Hassan & M. Fasial Safa & Ibrahim Siraj, 2021. "Do determinants of fees differ between Islamic and conventional funds?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3599-3623, July.
    8. Berger, Allen N. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2014. "Executive board composition and bank risk taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    9. Servaes, Henri & Sigurdsson, Kari, 2022. "The Costs and Benefits of Performance Fees in Mutual Funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    10. Sanctuary, Mark & Lavenius, Axel & Parlato, Giorgio & Plue, Jan & Crona, Beatrice, 2024. "A study of green European equity fund portfolio allocations," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 499, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    11. Myriã Tatiany Neves Bast & Sergio Naruhiko Sakurai, 2016. "Uma Avaliação Empírica Dos Efeitos Dos Empréstimos Do Bndes Aos Governos Municipais Brasileiros," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 064, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    12. Wojciech Charemza & Svetlana Makarova & Imran Shah, 2015. "Making the most of high inflation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(34-35), pages 3723-3739, July.
    13. Hassine, Haithem Ben & Mathieu, Claude, 2020. "R&D crowding out or R&D leverage effects: An evaluation of the french cluster-oriented technology policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Schertler, Andrea, 2016. "Pricing effects when competitors arrive: The case of discount certificates in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 84-99.
    15. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    16. T. G. Saji & Ratheesh K. Nair, 2017. "Investor-centric strategies for Indian mutual fund industry: inferring from the behavior of individual investors," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 44(3), pages 209-225, September.
    17. Scheld, Dominik & Stolper, Oscar, 2023. "Leveling the playing field? The effect of disclosing fund manager activeness to individual investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Massimo Coletta & Raffaele Santioni, 2019. "Households' investments in foreign mutual funds made transparent," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 533, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    19. Alessandro Olper & Jan Fałkowski & Johan Swinnen, 2014. "Political Reforms and Public Policy: Evidence from Agricultural and Food Policies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 21-47.
    20. Shuhei Nishitateno & Paul J. Burke, 2024. "Effects of Low Emission Zones on Air Quality, New Vehicle Registrations, and Birthweights: Evidence from Japan," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(7), pages 1955-1992, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mutual fund; Thematic fund; Monthly distribution fund; Mutual fund regulation; Comply-or-explain approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:97:y:2024:i:c:s1062976924000978. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.