This investigation follows probes launched by Denmark and Sweden over the past six months. The Dutch investment market is bigger than the Danish and Swedish combined, with investment assets of €469 billion and about 200 asset management companies. If any substantial wrong-doing is detected, the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets has the power to ban products in question.
“Now at least three national regulators [are looking into closet-indexing]. It’s gaining momentum, it’s a very important emerging matter for all investors in Europe, there’s a problem with the cost of investment in Europe and falsely-active funds are part of the problem,” commented Guillaume Prache, the Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, to Financial News.
The article "Dutch watchdog launches probe into closet indexers" appeared in the Newspaper Issue 937 of 23th February 2015.
Closet indexer is the term for fund managers who falsely claim to manage the assets entrusted to them actively - and charge their clients accordingly - while they simply follow an index.