The Association of Real Estate Property Funds has commissioned consultant and former PwC partner John Forbes to produce a report on the open-ended retail property fund market and the funds that suspended redemptions after the EU referendum.
Suspension is a mechanism that is laid out under FCA regulation but the structure of open-ended retail funds has been criticised for allowing daily trading on illiquid assets and closing during times of crisis.
Forbes’ report will be published in Q1 next year and will examine what improvements could be made to the industry.
The focus will be the impact on clients but will also take into account the whole market including fund distributors, managers, valuers and other service providers. It aims to identify areas of investor behaviour management during periods of market stress for which AREF or the regulator can establish a best practice strategy.
Forbes previously wrote a similar report during his time at PwC in 2012 following problems after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2009.
