'Blame all round': Industry reaction to Woodford Equity Income fund suspension

FCA needs to review fund structure rules

Neil Woodford is not solely to blame for the "disappointing" recent events relating to his flagship Equity Income fund, but the warning signs appear to have been ignored for some time, according to fund selectors.

Expressing a degree of sympathy with Woodford Investment Management, commentators have laid responsibility at the hand of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), large platforms that "over-promoted" the fund, ratings agencies, advisers and investors for blindly following the herd without fully interrogating the fund's underlying exposure. Sam Lees, head of research at FundExpert, said the suspension was not a shock, given the fund's structure. He said: "Who is to blame? It's not Neil Woodford. He was just doing his job. He might have been doing it badly, but he didn't force anyone to b...