Asset managers act as agents of investors in their funds. They are required to manage their funds in the best interests of all of their fund investors and to appropriately avoid, manage and disclose conflicts of interests that could, and do arise between different investor groups. This is a requirement of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II).<\/p>
<\/p>
Asset managers should have policies, procedures and governance in place to effectively manage any conflicts arising from their stewardship obligations.<\/p>
<\/p>
The FCA has recently published a Policy Statement (PS 19/13) \u2018Proposals to promote shareholder engagement: Feedback to CP 19/7 and final rules.\u2019 This sets out final rules to implement requirements of the Revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II). SRD II introduced new requirements to improve shareholder engagement and increase transparency around stewardship. The rules came into effect on 10 June 2019 requiring asset managers to disclose and make publicly available their policies on how they engage with the companies they invest in. They also require asset managers to provide certain information to institutional investors, including occupational pension schemes. The new rules are designed to foster stewardship, and better stewardship should lead to better decision making in relation to mergers and acquisitions.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2616", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Henley"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Henley"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-19T16:42:37.67Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Takeovers: Conflict of Interests"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 20 May (HL15640), whether they have reviewed the decision-making processes in investment institutions which hold equity investments in both the offeror and the offeree in a takeover situation but on behalf of different clients and where a particular outcome might favour one group of clients over another .", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3869", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Myners"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Myners"} ], "uin" : "HL16209"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1125850", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1125850/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
It is not uncommon for some investors to hold shares in both the bidder and target companies and rules mandated by the Financial Conduct Authority provide transparency to the market about share ownership. Takeover decisions are ultimately a matter for shareholders and the UK\u2019s takeover rules require bidders to secure the approval of a majority of shareholders in the target company.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2616", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Henley"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Henley"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-05-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-05-20T16:06:53.167Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-05-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Takeovers: Conflict of Interests"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to undertake a review of the management of conflicts of interest arising when, in a contested takeover situation, institutional investors hold shares for clients, or under their own account, in both the bidder and target companies.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3869", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Myners"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Myners"} ], "uin" : "HL15640"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }