Capital market regulator Sebi wants mutual funds to play a much more assertive role at the companies they have invested in and stop being the passive spectators they have largely been over the past three years.
The regulator is planning to make it mandatory for fund houses to record votes on resolutions and provide the rationale for their decisions. It is also considering a proposal to mandate auditor certification of voting reports to make these disclosures more transparent and reliable, said two persons familiar with the development.
"Trustees of asset management companies need to ensure that mutual funds have carefully voted on important decisions as they have the fiduciary responsibility to unitholders of the fund," said one of the persons cited above. He said the proposal was discussed by the mutual fund advisory committee meeting in Mumbai on Monday.
Sebi has also been urging its regulatory counterpart in the insurance sector to encourage companies to play an active role in promoting good corporate governance so that institutional investors unite to protect the interests of all investors. If the regulator's proposal on mutual funds is implemented, this will strengthen the measures it took in 2010, when it became compulsory for asset management companies to disclose voting policies.
Sebi wanted them to be more vocal about corporate governance policies related to mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, hostile takeovers, preferential allotment of shares, appointment and removal of directors or any other matter that could affect the interest of unit holders in mutual fund schemes. However, information provided by the funds reveals there has been no significant change in their voting participation.
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The regulator is planning to make it mandatory for fund houses to record votes on resolutions and provide the rationale for their decisions. It is also considering a proposal to mandate auditor certification of voting reports to make these disclosures more transparent and reliable, said two persons familiar with the development.
"Trustees of asset management companies need to ensure that mutual funds have carefully voted on important decisions as they have the fiduciary responsibility to unitholders of the fund," said one of the persons cited above. He said the proposal was discussed by the mutual fund advisory committee meeting in Mumbai on Monday.
Sebi has also been urging its regulatory counterpart in the insurance sector to encourage companies to play an active role in promoting good corporate governance so that institutional investors unite to protect the interests of all investors. If the regulator's proposal on mutual funds is implemented, this will strengthen the measures it took in 2010, when it became compulsory for asset management companies to disclose voting policies.
Sebi wanted them to be more vocal about corporate governance policies related to mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, hostile takeovers, preferential allotment of shares, appointment and removal of directors or any other matter that could affect the interest of unit holders in mutual fund schemes. However, information provided by the funds reveals there has been no significant change in their voting participation.
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According to InGovern Research Services, India's first proxy advisory and corporate governance research firm, fund houses voted against 28,290 resolutions in FY13 only 1.5% of the time and backed them on 47% occasions.
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