Fund groups could face big fines over cash for CEO access

The Financial Services Authority may begin levying multi-million pound fines on fund groups found to be breaching its rules over corporate access.

Reports suggest some in the industry are paying brokers up to $20,000 an hour to meet chief executives - often without the latter's knowledge. FSA head of asset management supervision Ed Harley told the Financial Times fines could be imposed on fund managers who ignore rules over the correct use of investors' money. FSA rules state that such money should only be used for execution and research purposes, but European asset managers paid 29% of dealing commissions for client access last year, according to a Thomson Reuters Extel Survey cited by the paper. "There is an awful lot of cl...