December 2012
Policy and consultations
Guiding principles for policy
Markets exist to serve savers and those raising capital, not the other way round. The costs of bringing the two together should be kept to the minimum. Intermediaries should not be able to extract excess rents.
Government and regulatory policy should similarly put the interests of savers and investors before those of market intermediaries.
Good regulation which enhances financial stability and the confidence of savers and investors is to be welcomed. The successive EU UCITS directives are examples of this. Poor regulation, which increases investor cost without adding commensurate benefit is not in the interests of savers and investors, and should be avoided.
Retail customers should be informed clearly and accurately how their money is being invested, what it is costing them and what the risks are. They should not be told they can receive higher returns without higher risk.
Conflicts of interest should be managed and rewards aligned with the interests of customers, and innovations should be made only in the interests of customers.
Regulatory timelines over the last 40 years there has been a marked shift, with regulation now coming mainly from the EU. Compare our Timeline of UK regulatory events with our Timeline of EEC/EU regulatory events.
Industry guidance
Documents produced by IMA or in association with other parties, which set out good practices and standards.
Responses and representations
Many of our policy positions are set out in the responses sent to consultations by the Government, regulators, the European Commission and others.
Parliamentary activity
IMA regularly submits written evidence and gives oral evidence to parliamentary inquiries, as well as briefing MPs and Peers on legislation and policy issues.
Conflicts of Interest - Corporate Access
The IMA now publishes the paper Recommendations on Corporate Access for public comment. This will provide the sell-side and other interested parties with an opportunity to comment or make representations about the views being taken before any final document is published by the IMA. The paper also records IMA’s commitment to consider wider aspects of the corporate access and research market presently.