The emergence and development of funds is the inevitable result of the financial system with direct financing in the stock and bond markets as the core, represented by the United States. When national wealth is mainly reflected in financial assets rather than bank deposits, there will be a strong demand for professional asset management, thus promoting the development of fund, a collective asset management institution.
Historians' debate about the origin of the fund is still inconclusive. Some people think that it originated from the closed-end investment company founded by King Williams of the Netherlands in 1822, while others think that the investment trust company founded by a Dutch businessman named Adrian van Katevich inspired the king in 1774.
Britain is the birthplace of modern investment funds. /kloc-In the middle of 0/8th century, after the first industrial revolution, Britain relied on the wealth accumulated by developing industry and expanding abroad, which made the domestic interest rate drop continuously and the capital began to seek a way to increase its value. However, at that time, investors themselves lacked investment knowledge in the international field and had no clear understanding of the international investment environment. Some speculators take advantage of their eagerness to invest abroad, set up a large number of joint-stock companies, encourage investors to buy their shares at high prices, and then declare the companies bankrupt and abscond with the money. A large number of investors suffered serious losses, and after a painful lesson, the idea of pooling the funds of many investors and entrusting special personnel to invest and manage them came into being. This idea was supported by the British government. The British government organized investment companies and entrusted financial experts with specialized knowledge to invest on their behalf, so as to spread risks, so that small and medium-sized investors could enjoy the rich returns of international investment like big investors, and at the same time entrusted lawyers to sign written contracts to ensure the safety and appreciation of investment. This investment method of pooling all funds and entrusting experts to operate quickly received enthusiastic response from investors. This is the embryonic form of the early investment trust company.
1868, the world's first investment trust-foreign and colonial government trust was born in Britain. It is the first institution to raise funds for small investors to achieve economies of scale. The trust mainly focuses on corporate bonds invested in foreign colonies, with a total amount of 480,000. The trust period is 24 years, and the annual return rate of investors is above 7%, which is more than 1 times higher than the annual interest rate of British government bonds at that time. This kind of fund is similar to stocks. Can not be returned or exchanged by the unit, and the rights and interests are limited to dividends and dividends. Its operation mode is similar to that of modern closed-end contract fund, which restricts the relationship between the parties through contracts, entrusts agents to use and manage the fund assets, and implements a fixed interest rate system. Some characteristics of this fund also reflect the characteristics of modern mutual funds, such as 3% sales expenses and 25 basis points management expenses.
The method of diversification of investment risk by portfolio funds quickly took root in Britain and spread to the United States in the 1990s of 19. Boston Personal Property Trust was established in 1893, which is the first closed-end fund in the United States. Alexander Fund was established in Philadelphia from 65438 to 0907, which is regarded as an important milestone in the development of modern open-end funds. The fund issues fund shares every six months and allows investors to redeem their investments. Massachusetts investor, founded in Boston? Trust) is considered to be the first modern open mutual fund in the full sense. At the beginning, we invested 65,438+09 blue chips, 65,438+04 railways, 65,438+00 public enterprises and 2 insurance companies, effectively controlling the sales expenses at 5%. Initially funded by 200 professors from Harvard University, it aims to provide professional investment management for investors, and the management institution is Massachusetts Financial Services Company. In the first year, the trust value of the fund's 32,000 units was $392,000. Today, its assets have exceeded US$ 654.38 billion, with more than 85,000 investors. As a new thing, open-end fund was really born for the first time in history.
From March 1926 to March 1928, as many as 480 corporate funds were established in the United States. By the end of 1929, the assets of the fund industry amounted to $7 billion, seven times that of 1926. But because the relevant laws at that time did not
Integrity, so with the outbreak of the world economic crisis and the collapse of the global stock market in the late 1920s, the newly emerging American fund industry suffered heavy losses, most of the funds closed down or closed down, and a few survivors were left out in the cold because they were suspected of manipulating the stock market by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The total assets of the fund industry decreased by more than 50% during the period of 1929 ~ 193 1.
Before 1929, the US government basically did not control the fund industry. The great crisis led to the collapse of the American stock market, and many fund companies closed down, especially closed-end investment companies that raised funds by issuing bonds. In order to protect the interests of investors, the U.S. government has strengthened the macro-management of economy, finance and stock market, especially the supervision of financial industry. 1932, Roosevelt was elected president of the United States and began to implement the government control policy, rather than the party's laissez-faire policy. The federal government has worked hard to formulate some protective measures to curb many problems in the field of financial services caused by the previous laissez-faire period. With the development of legislative activities in the financial industry, Congress passed four major laws affecting the fund industry:
1933 "Securities Law" was promulgated, which covered a wider field than mutual funds and established the rules for public offering of securities.
1934, the securities exchange law was promulgated, and the trading rules of publicly traded securities were put forward. Formulated the rules that sales organizations and agents must abide by; The agent must be registered with the corresponding government management agency.
The Investment Company Law was promulgated in 1940, which stipulated the composition and management elements of investment funds in detail, and paid special attention to the adverse effects on the interests of the state and investors in practice, providing investors with complete legal protection, thus laying a legal foundation for the sound development of investment funds.
1940, the investment consultant law was promulgated, which required any institution providing investment consulting services for mutual funds to be registered with the securities and exchange commission, and also imposed strict restrictions on the contracts signed between investment consultants and fund companies.
When the 1934 tax law was promulgated, * * * obtained important tax benefits with the fund industry. Compared with closed-end funds, open-end funds have obvious advantages, thus promoting their increasing popularity. 1929, closed-end funds account for more than 95% of the total assets of $3 billion; By 1940, the share of closed-end funds dropped to 57%; 1943, the market share of open-end funds surpassed that of closed-end funds for the first time, and the relative share has been increasing since then.
From 65438 to 0940, the United States promulgated the Investment Company Law and Investment Consultant Law, which stipulated the composition and management requirements of investment funds in detail, defined the purpose, function and operation norms of funds in legal form, strictly restricted all kinds of speculative activities of investment companies, and provided good social conditions for the development of fund industry. At that time, there were only 68 funds in the United States, and investors * * * set up 300,000 fund holding accounts with total assets of $448 million.
After World War II, the rapid growth of American economy promoted the development of investment funds in 1950s and 1960s, and the 1950s and 1970s were the period of rapid growth of American fund industry.
By 1960, the growth of mutual funds has made Congress put forward new requirements for the supervision of the fund industry. The US Securities and Exchange Commission investigated three reports in 1962, 1963 and 1966, focusing on the potential conflicts of interest between fund share holders and fund management companies. These reports urge the National Assembly to draft the amendment 1970 and modify the investment company law 1940 to adjust the management of mutual funds, especially to strengthen the protection of the state and fund share holders and prevent fund companies from charging excessive management fees.
By 1970, there are 36 1 investment funds in the United States, with total assets close to $50 billion and more than10 million investors. In the mid-1970s, most investment funds changed from closed-end to open-end, and closed-end funds kept shrinking. Open-end funds have some new features, their products and services tend to be diversified, and their status and scale have also undergone tremendous changes. For example, as early as 1970, most open-end funds were equity funds, and only some bonds were included in the portfolio. By 1972, there were 46 bond funds, and 1992 further reached 1 629.
The 1970s was an era of fund industry adjustment and innovation. In addition to the progress of mutual funds in scale, variety and service, the emergence and development of private equity funds has also become an important event in the development of fund industry. Unlike * * * funds, private equity funds are mainly for institutional investors and provide financial services for institutional investors, while * * * funds are mainly for individual investors. In the fund industry in the United States, individual investors account for most of the assets of * * * funds, while institutions account for a small proportion of * * * funds. At the end of 2005, individuals held * * * fund assets of US$ 7,796.8 billion, accounting for 87.6% of its total assets, while institutions held * * fund assets of US$ 65,438+065,438+0083 billion, accounting for 65,438+02.4% of its total assets. Since 2000, the ratio of individuals to institutions has remained unchanged.