investment funds
The history of development of investment funds in the world takes its beginning from the first half of the 19th century. The first investment funds were established in 1822 in Belgium, in 1849 in Switzerland, and in 1852 in France. In the U.S. the first investment Fund was founded in 1860, it was a corporate investment Fund.
The first mutual Fund in the United States was founded in Boston in 1924. The rapid growth in the number of mutual funds has led to the fact that already by 1951, their number in the United States exceeded 100 units, and the number of shareholders of these funds - 1 million people.
The most significant development of the industry of investment funds in the us and Europe began after the Second world war. By the end of the 20th century investment funds have started to play a special role in the economies of the developed countries of the world and became the main subject of the investment of savings of the households. At the present time the main part of the assets of investment funds in the world falls on the open funds.
Among the investment funds in the United States, the most common so-called mutual funds. These companies are joint stock companies, invest the money which can be bought their shares. The income of the shareholder receives in the form of dividends, as well as due to the increase in value of the shares.
mutual funds are divided into open investment company or mutual funds (mutual funds), and closed investment companies, or trusts of the closed type.
The activities of the mutual funds are controlled by the Commission on stock exchanges and securities - the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the basis of the law of the 1933 securities act. Mutual funds have the right to issue only ordinary shares, the income on which for the investor cannot be determined in advance. It depends on the success of the capital management of the Fund.
In 1990, the assets of mutual funds in the United States exceeded us $ 1 trillion., and now reached 6 trillion. Today the number of U.S. mutual funds exceeds 6 thousand. Almost 40% of Americans are investors of such funds.
In Europe the specifics of the activity of investment funds is conditioned by the peculiarities of this region. In the countries of the European Union Council Directive of 20.12.1985, introduced the concept of «UCITS» - «Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities».
Investment mechanisms in Germany is even more specific in comparison with other countries. This is due to the special role of banks, which they in it is played. Under German law, investment funds are credit institutions, and they are subject to all legal norms relating to the credit institutions. Another important characteristic of the German investment funds is the specificity of their depositaries - structures entrusted with the safekeeping of securities and control of the asset management companies of funds. The depositaries of funds may only be all the same banks.
As a result, in comparison with other countries in Germany at the expense of issue of shares is funded by considerably more than the low rate of investment. In the ratio of market capitalization to GDP (20-25%) Germany in over 2 times lower than the United States and in 5 times - UK. Most of the needs of large enterprises in long-term capital satisfy the banks. Another result of the dominant role of banks and banking legislation in Germany is the fact that the regulation of German investment companies is considered to be one of the most stringent in the world, when it comes to the legal protection of investors ' interests.
In General, the amount of assets of open-end investment funds as a whole in the world in 2006 amounted to 21.8 trillion., and the total number of such funds amounted to approximately 61,5 thousand. The U.S. share of global assets of the relevant Fund amounted to approximately 48%, the share of the EU countries - 35%.
