CMA issues bulletin to raise investor awareness

15/01/2014 08:32 AST

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) stated that there exists a set of rights in the Investment Funds Regulations and other implementing regulations to protect those investing in investment funds. If the fund manager withheld any of those rights stated in the Investment Funds Regulations and other regulations, investors can file a complaint to CMA either through its website, fax or hand it directly to the Investors Complaints employees at CMA’s Head Office.

CMA emphasizes the importance of reading the rules and regulations related to the fund before making any investment decision.

These terms and conditions will form the contract between the fund manager and the investor, and explain all the rights and responsibilities of both parties, according to the authority.

Examples of the investors’ rights: Getting a free new copy of the fund’s rules and regulations in Arabic, providing the investor with a report on the fund every three months maximum, a notice on any change in the board of directors of the fund, an updated and reviewed financial report and the fund manager should inform the investor of any major change in the rules and regulations of the fund at least sixty (60) days in advance of the effective date of the changes. CMA obliges the fund manager to produce the terms and conditions that will form the contract between the fund manager and the unit holder. Unit holders should indicate their agreement to the terms and conditions by signing a copy thereof.

The regulations also emphasized that any material changes to the terms and conditions must be notified to unit holders by sending a summary of those changes to all unit holders at least 60 days in advance of the effective date of the changes.

The authority also requires a number of information details to be included in the terms and conditions, including the name of the fund, the fund manager’s head office address, a website that includes the information on the fund and/or its manager, date of issuance and the date of the last updated version of the rules and regulations.

The authority has issued an awareness bulletin through different media outlets in the interest of investors.

Arab News