Friday, May 01, 2009

May Day Good News - Co-op applies to takes on Fund Managers

I wasn’t able to go to today’s trade union May Day march in London but instead I will post some good Labour movement news. I heard this week that the Asset management arm of the Co-op has applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to be external fund managers.

At the moment the Co-op has its own in-house team of managers to run its successful range of mostly ethical investment funds. But they only manage in-house Co-op funds. Now the Co-op has decided to apply for permission from the FSA to make tenders as fund managers to all Pensions, insurance and Charity funds. I cannot find any Internet link but I am assured by a reliable source that this is happening and it is public.

This is really good news. While I am sure that the Co-op is not perfect its mutual values in equity investments has proved itself yet again in the current financial crisis.

There are many good banking and private fund managers but also too many rogues who frankly just rip off pension funds in return for rotten performance. Having a major player in the market place that is successful and ethical will drive up standards across the whole industry.

I would also imagine that the prospect of having the Co-op as Fund managers will be very attractive to many fund trustees. I am sure of course that scheme financial advisers will "welcome" the entry of the Co-op and I will be interested to see who (assuming that the FSA gives permission to the Co-op to become external fund managers) shortlists them to a beauty parade for a new investment mandate (or not).

2 comments:

Charlie Marks said...

This is good news, indeed. It's great to see the cooperative movement going from strength to strength.

John Gray said...

Hi Charlie

Very true - this could really shake up financial services in this country.