Friendly Investing and Information Sharing in the Asset Management Industry
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Forthcoming
53 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2020 Last revised: 20 Mar 2023
Date Written: May 20, 2020
Abstract
Do asset managers engage in friendly investing to obtain privileged investment information? We test this hypothesis in the context of mutual fund connections to financial groups. Using brokers as the source of connections, we find that funds overweight the stock of connected financial groups and side with management in contested votes. We also find that fund performance improves with the extent of friendly investing. The improvement stems from trading the stock of companies that borrow from connected financial groups. Brokerage commissions do not drive the results. Our findings suggest that funds can obtain valuable information by acting as friendly shareholders.
Keywords: Asset management, business ties, financial conglomerates, mutual funds, brokerage firms, price support, financial stability
JEL Classification: G01, G11, G21, G23, G24, G28
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