Fidelity Worldwide Investment has chosen not to sign the Investment Association’s (IA’s) new 10-point statement of principles for asset managers as it feels its business is too diverse.
A Fidelity spokesperson told Investment Adviser: “The principles embody a range of practices that Fidelity takes very seriously.
“However, Fidelity is not just an asset manager, but also a pension provider and manages a large platform. The clients’ needs differ and cannot be covered by a single statement.”
Last week the trade body unveiled a 10-point statement of principles to help firms put customers’ interests first.
Initially 25 managers, representing £1.8trn of assets under management, have signed the statement.
The first two points require managers to “always put their clients’ interests first and ahead of their own”, and “take care of clients’ money as diligently as they would their own”.
The companies that signed the statement are required to publish a message on their websites explaining how they put clients’ interests at the centre of their firms and how they will identify and deal with any issues that could go against their ability to uphold these principles.
However, some of the bigger asset managers are missing from the list, including Fidelity, Invesco Perpetual, Schroders and M&G.
Fidelity, and another large manager that did not wish to be named, thought it was already clear from their current communication practices that they followed the principles and a further overlay would not be justified.
IA chief executive Daniel Godfrey said: “There is nothing that should be inappropriate in the statement. The idea of these principles was just an expression of excellence.
“We never saw this as something extra the firms had to do.
“We say companies should always put clients’ interests first and, put in this way, we think clients can trust them.”
Several other asset managers not on the list, including Allianz Global Investors, Artemis Fund Managers, Aviva Investors, Barings Asset Management, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and First State Investments, said they supported the ambition of the IA and were reviewing the initiative.
Mr Godfrey said: “We are aware there are members on a glide path to signing this, but their governance and timing schedules did not fit with our August 1 release.
“We are confident that there will be a constant stream of members coming through in the next six months to a year.”
The current list of asset managers includes: Axa Investment Managers, Baillie Gifford & Co, Henderson Global Investors, Hermes Investment Management, Legal & General Investment Management, Old Mutual Global Investors and TwentyFour Asset Management.
