Risk, Regulation, and Investor Protection: The Case of Investment Management

This authoritative study of the investment management business focuses on the use of capital requirements for investment managers as a means of investor protection. Commissioned by the Investment Management Regulatory Organization and drawing on extensive discussions with investment managers, it provides a comprehensive account of how the investment management business is organized and identifies its inherent risks. The authors examine the cause and incidence of market failures as well as the dangers to investors through mismanagement and malpractice, and provide an extensive treatment of fraud, with a full listing of British fraud cases since the early 1970s. The report concludes with a summary of the risks faced by investors and recommendations for appropriate forms of protection; and, on the basis of existing regulatory structures in the United Kingdom and the United States, proposes an alternative structure in accordance with the authors' analysis.

Julian Franks is at London Business School. Colin Mayer is at City University Business School.