Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) has completed 69 enforcement requests since last July, which involved 349 firms totaling 1585 products, including four mutual fund houses.
AMAC is an industry organisation that also works on regulatory matters and is under the authority of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
The enforcement requests were mainly made by CSRC, mainland law enforcement or judicial authorities, the association said in an online statement (in Chinese). Three cases were filed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
Four unnamed mutual fund management firms were required to submit information for all of its portfolio managers and products, AMAC noted.
The 69 cases under investigation involved 248 industry practitioners, most of them employed as portfolio managers in mutual fund houses, it added.
The majority of cases are related to non-retail-focused funds, or so-called “private funds” as they are known in China. They target institutional or high net worth investors only.
“There were two peaks in which requests were made: the first one being the period when the securities market was extremely volatile, and requests are mainly related to insider trading or market manipulation.
“The second peak began in March this year, when the majority of requests were linked to quasi-private funds conducting illegal money-raising activities,” AMAC said.
Nearly three-quarters (259) of the firms under AMAC’s probe are not registered. The rest include 81 registered “private fund” management firms, and five are either securities firms, their asset management arms or futures firms.
