IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/crf/wpaper/12-15.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Independence and focus of Luxembourg UCITS fund boards

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Jaap Hazenberg

    (LSF)

Abstract

The investment fund governance frameworks of the U.S., the largest fund domicile globally, and Luxembourg, the second-largest domicile, differ significantly. U.S. funds have mandatory independent directors and these directors are empowered to be the watchdogs of the fund investors, negotiating fees with the fund management company on their behalf. This is not the case for Luxembourg funds, established in accordance with the E.U. UCITS Directive. This study uses a sample of Luxembourg UCITS funds and shows that, although there is no regulatory requirement, approximately half of the sample funds have appointed at least one independent board member. Among Anglo-Saxon fund promoters of these Luxembourg funds, the level of independence is higher than among continental European promoters and has increased in the past decade. In that same period, continental European promoters have decreased the level of independence of their funds boards. A survey among board members of the sample funds showed that, in absence of the requirement to negotiate fees with the fund management company, Luxembourg boards give relatively low priority to costs, which they see as an area that is primarily the prerogative of the promoter. That this is irrespective of whether the board has independent board members, is consistent with earlier quantitative research, that did not provide consistent evidence that funds with more independent boards have lower costs. "Keywords: "" Investment funds; European Union; Governance; Board of directors; Board independence;Fund costs."""

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Jaap Hazenberg, 2012. "Independence and focus of Luxembourg UCITS fund boards," LSF Research Working Paper Series 12-15, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
  • Handle: RePEc:crf:wpaper:12-15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wwwen.uni.lu/content/download/57403/678824/file/Independence%20and%20focus%20of%20Luxembourg%20UCITS%20fund%20boards.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    2. Tufano, Peter & Sevick, Matthew, 1997. "Board structure and fee-setting in the U.S. mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 321-355, December.
    3. Jan Jaap Hazenberg, 2012. "Effectiveness of independent boards of Luxembourg funds," LSF Research Working Paper Series 12-11, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
    4. John C. Adams & Sattar A. Mansi & Takeshi Nishikawa, 2010. "Internal Governance Mechanisms and Operational Performance: Evidence from Index Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1261-1286, March.
    5. Sophie Xiaofei Kong & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2008. "Unitary Boards And Mutual Fund Governance," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 31(3), pages 193-224, September.
    6. Ferris, Stephen P. & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling), 2007. "Do independent directors and chairmen matter? The role of boards of directors in mutual fund governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 392-420, June.
    7. Cremers, Martijn & Driessen, Joost & Maenhout, Pascal & Weinbaum, David, 2009. "Does Skin in the Game Matter? Director Incentives and Governance in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(6), pages 1345-1373, December.
    8. Oecd, 2005. "White Paper on Government of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS)," Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2005(1), pages 137-169.
    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. Kempf, Alexander & Pütz, Alexander & Sonnenburg, Florian, 2013. "The impact of duality on managerial decisions and performance: Evidence from the mutual fund industry," CFR Working Papers 12-06 [rev.], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    2. Eric Fricke, 2015. "Board Holdings, Compensation and Mutual Fund Manager Turnover," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 295-312, June.
    3. Elif Sisli Ciamarra & Abigail Hornstein, 2015. "Board Overlaps in Mutual Fund Families," Working Papers 92, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    4. Kempf, Alexander & Pütz, Alexander & Sonnenburg, Florian, 2012. "Fund manager duality: Impact on performance and investment behavior," CFR Working Papers 12-06, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    5. Martin, Thorsten & Sonnenburg, Florian, 2015. "Managerial ownership changes and mutual fund performance," CFR Working Papers 16-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Ooi, Elizabeth, 2020. "Directors who serve multiple pension funds: Are they conflicted or skilled?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Mohebshahedin, Mahmood, 2016. "Board governance, monetary interest, and closed-end fund performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 196-217.
    8. Felix Meschke, 2019. "An Empirical Examination of Mutual Fund Boards," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(04), pages 1-35, December.
    9. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel & Xu, Bingrun, 2017. "Does corporate governance matter in fund management company: the case of china," MPRA Paper 76138, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Fernando Muñoz, 2020. "How do the size and independence of the board of trustees affect the financial and sustainable performance of socially responsible mutual funds?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1834-1850, July.
    11. Evans, Richard & Fahlenbrach, Rudiger, 2007. "Do Funds Need Governance? Evidence from Variable Annuity-Mutual Fund Twins," Working Paper Series 2007-17, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    12. Gottesman, Aron & Morey, Matthew, 2012. "Mutual fund corporate culture and performance," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 69-81.
    13. Navone, Marco, 2012. "Investors’ distraction and strategic repricing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1291-1303.
    14. Khorana, Ajay & Servaes, Henri & Wedge, Lei, 2007. "Portfolio manager ownership and fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 179-204, July.
    15. Qian, Meijun, 2011. "Is "voting with your feet" an effective mutual fund governance mechanism?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 45-61, February.
    16. Otero-González, Luis & Durán-Santomil, Pablo, 2021. "Is quantitative and qualitative information relevant for choosing mutual funds?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 476-488.
    17. Emmanuel Mamatzakis & Bingrun Xu, 2021. "Does ownership structure affect performance? Evidence from Chinese mutual funds," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1399-1435, May.
    18. John M.R. Chalmers & Roger M. Edelen & Gregory B. Kadlec, 1999. "Transaction-cost Expenditures and the Relative Performance of Mutual Funds," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-02, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    19. Agarwal, Vikas & Barber, Brad M. & Cheng, Si & Hameed, Allaudeen & Shanker, Harshini & Yasuda, Ayako, 2023. "Do investors overvalue startups? Evidence from the junior stakes of mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 23-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    20. Ferris, Stephen P. & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling), 2007. "Do independent directors and chairmen matter? The role of boards of directors in mutual fund governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 392-420, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    "; "; investment funds; european union; governance; board of directors; board independence; fund costs."; "; ";
    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
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:crf:wpaper:12-15. 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: Martine Zenner (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfsculu.html .

    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.