Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) has advised all executives holding key responsibilities to start working from the office by June 10. The move is aimed at greater vigilance against wrongdoing by mutual fund managers, a report published in the Economic Times said.
One of the reasons why the alleged activities by the Axis executives had gone unnoticed is said to have been the investment team working from home for over two years on account of Covid-related movement restrictions.
“Flexibility is given to employees to work from homes, especially those handling critical functions that deal with the markets, such as investments, dealing, operations, compliance or risk management, etc. may be withdrawn,” said the AMFI communication to fund houses on Wednesday.
The SEBI may have nudged AMFI to ask mutual funds to end work from home for employees handling critical functions, said senior industry officials. This could not be independently verified.
Most large fund houses have already asked employees to report to the office from early April. Some attend office on all working days, other fund houses ask staff to come a few days in the week.
In the past few years, most mutual funds have implemented systems aimed at preventing transgressions by executives. Some of them are routing all orders through a common system, have mandated the use of recorded landlines in trading hours, and have banned personal mobiles in dealing rooms.
