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Using proprietary individual-level trading data around a natural experiment—the release of a smartphone trading app by a large investment advisor—this study investigates how smartphone trading technology affects retail investor behavior and mutual fund performance. App adoption by retail investors leads to an increase in investor attention and trading volume. App adopters' flows become more sensitive to short-term fund returns and market sentiment, resulting in higher aggregate flow volume among adopters. The funds more exposed to the shock experience a greater decline in abnormal returns, likely attributable to higher fund flow volume and liquidity costs. As a result, both adopters and nonadopters experience a decline in their mutual fund investment returns. This paper was accepted by Lin William Cong, finance. Funding: The W. Edwards Deming Center and the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia University provided funding to support this research. Supplemental Material: The online appendices and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02099. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutual fund (MF) is one of the applicable and popular tools in investment market. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach for performance evaluation of mutual fund by considering internal structure and financial data uncertainty. To reach this goal, the robust network data envelopment analysis (RNDEA) is presented for extended two-stage structure. In the RNDEA method, leader–follower (non-cooperative game) and robust optimization approaches are applied in order to modeling network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) and dealing with uncertainty, respectively. The proposed RNDEA approach is implemented for performance assessment of 15 mutual funds. Illustrative results show that presented method is applicable and effective for performance evaluation and ranking of MFs in the presence of uncertain data. Also, the results reveal that the discriminatory power of robust NDEA approach is more than the discriminatory power of deterministic NDEA models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main aim of this study is to utilize the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach to explore the impact of financial literacy, risk tolerance, market trend, economic stability perception, financial goals on investor decision-making. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted, collecting data from 407 respondents in Delhi between January and July 2024. A structured questionnaire was used, consisting of items measured on a 5-point Likert scale. PLS-SEM is employed to investigate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the study. Results: The results of the study direct significant relationships between all studied factors and investor decision-making. Financial literacy had a path coefficient (ß) of 0.568, risk tolerance0.809, market trend0.639, economic stability perception0.692, and financial goals0.763, all with p-values less than 0.001. These findings underscore the complex influence of studied factors on investor decision-making. Conclusion: This study authorizes that financial literacy, risk tolerance, market trend, economic stability perception; financial goals significantly influence investor decision-making. These considerations can help mutual fund companies in developing more effective policies to fulfil the needs of different investors in Delhi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the investor behavior of mutual funds in China. Our results show little evidence about the redemption puzzle. We further refute the disposition effect, that is, investors do not tend to redeem funds with superior past performance. Additionally, market conditions are crucial for investment decisions. In bull markets, investors are prone to taking risks while being conservative and prudent during bad times. Considering investor heterogeneity, we find that institutional investors value the funds’ past performance metrics, assigning greater weight to historical performance. Both institutional investors and individual investors show stronger sensitivity to complicated performance indicators in bad times than good times. Furthermore, we find that investors in China chase for the star funds. We also perform tests on the existence of the smart money effect, and the results show that investors can screen good funds from bad ones.

This paper analyses the potential impacts of a hypothetical implementation of the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST) in France for the field crops sector. The IST is a risk management tool available within the 2014–2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support farmers facing a severe drop in their incomes. This analysis was conducted using a farm‐level model relying on expected utility theory and based on positive mathematical programming with risk. The model was applied to a sample of 1375 field crop farms in France derived from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. Simulation results show that the uptake rate of the tool is relatively low, less than 37% in all scenarios. It is strongly dependent on CAP public support and on how much premium farmers have to pay. Highest uptake rates are observed in farms specialising in Other Field Crops, such as potatoes, pulses and sugar beet, and farms located in regions highly exposed to climatic risks. Previous experience with insurance favours the acceptance of the IST. Model results also show that the IST improves adopters' income and reduces income inequality. However, its impacts on crop diversity, measured by the Shannon index, are negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'Commission') proposed rule amendments that would require, among other things, open-end mutual funds to implement a mandatory swing pricing regime under certain circumstances (the 'Proposals'). To ensure that funds receive order information with sufficient time to make a swing pricing determination, the Proposals would require funds to set a hard cut-off time for the receipt of purchase and redemption orders. Currently, the vast majority of investments in open-end mutual funds are made through intermediaries and retirement plans, such that investors who submit orders to intermediaries and retirement plans before the time the fund has established for calculating its net asset value (NAV) generally receive the same day's NAV, even if the fund receives the order information from the intermediary or retirement plan after NAV is calculated. This is how mutual fund pricing has operated in the US for over 50 years. The Proposals would upend current operations. Under the Proposals, an investor's order would have to be received by the fund - not a financial intermediary or a retirement plan - before the cut-off time set by the fund for calculating NAV in order to be eligible for the same day's NAV. If adopted as proposed, the Proposals would require extensive changes to mutual fund pricing systems and infrastructure in the US. In this paper, we acknowledge the arguments against the Proposals by an overwhelming majority of industry commenters and, without undercutting those arguments, we explore practical, regulatory and compliance considerations for funds seeking to better understand how the Proposals might affect their day-to-day operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investing money through mutual fund benefits the small investors to access equities of big companies with a small amount of capital. It experiences the fluctuation of price along with the performance of stock, which is a major part in making the fund. Here, in this paper variant of Extreme Learning Machines (ELM) are applied to forecast the end-of-year net asset value (NAV) of mutual fund. Various types of ELM such as basic ELM, evolutionary ELM, online sequential ELM and error minimized ELM are explored and applied to historical data of four mutual funds such as SBI mutual fund, UTI mutual fund, Tata Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund for the prediction of NAV. Along with the different ELM based prediction model, this paper has explored on different types of activation functions and the number of nodes in the hidden layer used in variants of ELM. Examining the simulation result of all the models, along with different activation functions and different number of nodes, it is observed that evolutionary ELM outperforms over the other variants of ELM used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutual Fund investment is the right instrument for beginners and currently, with advancing technologies, it can facilitate the process of investing, for instance, using Bibit.id applications. One of the flagship features is a helper for the target user (a beginner or novice investor) to get the optimal portfolio, named Robo-Advisor. However, the adaptation process requires willingness or trust and is expected to increase intention in investing. Hence this study aims to test the role of e-trust in mediating between technology (Robo-Advisor) and behavior intention (investment intention). This study is an explanatory research that processes data from 120 respondents in the category of Gen Z in Malang Raya with specific criteria using the SEM-PLS method. The result concluded that the Robo-Advisor feature has a direct and significant effect on e-trust, the e-trust has a direct and significant effect on investment intention, and the Robo-Advisor feature affected investment intention mediated by e-trust. However, no direct influence was found on the Robo-Advisor feature on investment intention. So, Gen Z is a potential novice investor who intends to invest because it helped to get a suitable portfolio by entrusting the implementation of Robo-Advisor technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutual funds offer a dependable choice for small investors lacking the necessary skills, experience, or capital to participate in the capital market. Finding the factors influencing mutual fund performance in Pakistan is the aim of this study. The research examined the performance of thirty-five mutual funds that were available in Pakistan between 2016 and 2020.Mutual Fund Association of Pakistan annual reports and mutual fund annual reports were the sources of the yearly penal statistics. For the data analysis in this study, a fixed effect - Random effect OLS was employed. According to the study, fund performance is positively impacted by variables including asset turnover and fund size. And the fund performance is being negatively impacted by load fees. Fund managers ought to keep all the aspects in balance in order to guarantee the investors' profit through the maximizing of its return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ESG investing considers environmental, social, and governance scores as non-financial factors that may be used to measure an investment's sustainability and to ensure that the companies being funded are responsible corporate citizens and have acknowledged their responsibility towards the environment as well as society. Furthermore, finance professionals have recently started considering ESG as an investment style. This study focuses on tracking the growth of the ESG investment style in the Indian Stock market and assessing the performance of ESG Investments. Further, the authors assess the risk-adjusted performance of Indian ESG products available for investment and compare it with the performance of the broad market. The authors then attempt to determine whether these investment products have provided better returns than the market benchmark while assessing their riskiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find evidence for the beta anomaly in mutual fund performance. This anomaly is not accounted for in the standard four-factor framework, nor by the addition of a betting-against-beta factor to the benchmark model. We identify the active component of alpha (active alpha) not attributable to the passive effects related to beta. Active alpha is persistent and associated with superior portfolio performance. We find that, although many investors use standard alpha to allocate capital, a subset of sophisticated investors allocate their money based on active alpha. Our procedure is useful across the commonly used benchmark models for measuring performance and can be extended to accommodate other potential factor beta anomalies. This paper was accepted by Karl Diether, finance. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4639. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of socio-economic factors on the Mutual Funds' investment pattern in India with reference to the frequency and time period of investments of retail investors is attempted. The paper also recognizes the financial objectives and, proposes a model facilitating the investment behavior of the retail investors. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Chi-square test were conducted to evaluate both the significant demographic impact on investment patterns as well as the pertinent perception of the investors towards particular mutual fund/s selection. The study reveals that mutual fund is now being considered as one of the important investment options among the investors irrespective of their gender and age. The findings further support the impact of educational and income levels on the preference of investment in mutual funds. The study also reveals that the investors are inclined more towards this investment avenue mainly due to its ease of investing, higher returns and the minimum risk associated with investing in mutual funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We comprehensively study the impact of oil market volatility on mutual fund flow. In particular, using an extensive dataset on Saudi Arabia covering virtually all equity funds over 2006–2017, this paper provides the first analysis of the linkages between fund flow and oil market volatility. Our main findings show that investors shift substantially their asset allocation to the equity mutual fund sector in periods of high volatility. Our further evidence suggests that flow to high oil-exposed funds is more sensitive to oil volatility than low oil-exposed funds. This is consistent with investors valuing professional management highly during risky periods in a setting where alternatives to equity investment are limited. Our study provides new evidence for a fast-growing market and reveals important implications for the mutual fund market which helps investors, academics and regulators to better understand the behaviour of this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides a summary of a study that evaluates the performance of 12 growth-oriented mutual funds in India using risk-adjusted performance measures. The findings suggest that most of the funds did not outperform their benchmark indicators, except for the ICICI Multi-asset fund and HDFC mid-cap opportunity fund. The study highlights the importance of risk management for fund houses, managers, researchers, and investors to make informed decisions and maximize returns. The article also mentions two academic articles and several websites that can be useful for further research on mutual fund performance. [Extracted from the article]

As we know that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the financial markets and banking sectors; however, it is different from the non-banking financial institutions having Sharia mutual funds. In 2019, the net asset value (NAV) of Sharia mutual funds were about 53,735.58, while in 2020 it increased to 74,367.44. Seeing the above phenomenon, mutual funds are one of the strategies that can be an investment opportunity and can be a safe investment alternative for capital owners, especially small capital owners and owners who do not have much time and expertise to calculate the return and risk on their investment. This study aims to examine the projections of the financial performance of Sharia mutual funds for the next 6 years. The method used is quantitative with a descriptive approach, data processing was done by projection analysis using Excel. The results of this study are the performance of Islamic mutual funds during the early post-Covid era, from May to the present, that has decreased to an asset value of 42,668.70 caused by withdrawal for Hajj funds, inflation, etc. The cause of the decline is in line with the theory above that Islamic mutual funds can be affected by unsystematic risk, which is impacted by the value of securities in the stock market that fluctuates according to general economic conditions. There is also a projected performance of Sharia mutual funds based on the NAV of the post-Covid era for the next 6 years that will continue to increase, reaching the highest point in 2027 of 102,054.28. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We empirically investigate the effect of the centrality of mutual funds (MFs) on the holding network of each listed firm in cross-province acquisitions in China using a unique dataset covering the 2010–2019 period. We find a positive association between the centrality of MFs and the likelihood and value of cross-province acquisitions made by the listed firm, especially when the central blockholder MF pays corporate site visits, when target firms are difficult for the acquirer to reach, and when the central blockholder MF is low-risk or high-performance. We also show that blockholder centrality improves the market valuation and post-acquisition performance of cross-province acquisitions. These results support the notion that a MF with the largest blockholder centrality increases the value of the listed firms it owns by alleviating information asymmetry in cross-province acquisitions. Collectively, our evidence highlights the advisory role of a blockholder network for listed firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim and Introduction The development of financial markets is critical for economic growth. One of the most important financial markets is the capital and stock market, where the prosperity of the stock market and financing through the stock market can develop any country's economy. Capital market development requires the efficient performance of financial intermediaries, including mutual funds. Iran’s economy has always faced the problem of insufficient liquidity and financing for production sectors. As a financial tool, mutual funds can moderate this problem with their existing potential. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the probable effect of mutual funds on economic growth. Methodology In the previous studies that have been done in this field, the descriptive-analytical aspect of the subject has been discussed. But these studies didn't provide an appropriate framework for analyzing the effect of mutual funds on economic growth. For this purpose, in the present study, based on the theoretical literature, a general equilibrium model has been designed, and the output of this model is obtained according to the optimization of different sectors of the economy. Assume a closed economy where mutual funds are investors with information and allocate capital to high-productivity firms. The economy has a single period with two production components, a representative mutual fund, and a representative household. We assume a high-productivity firm (H) and a low-productivity firm (L) with an equal number of producers. Both firms can obtain funds by issuing new stocks in the primary market. There is one representative mutual fund in the economy that can invest on behalf of the representative household. Therefore, the fund can invest as much as the fund flows (F) received from the household at the beginning of the period. We assume the mutual fund has sufficient access to information and production technology and can detect high-productivity firms. The household seeks to maximize utility, and the proposed utility function consists of only consumption. As utility and consumption are positively related, utility maximization is equivalent to consumption maximization. However, since the present study adopted a single-period economy, consumption equals income. Thus, maximum utility is represented by maximum income. Initial capital (W) can be directly invested in the primary market or indirectly invested in the secondary market by the mutual fund. This framework is a new aspect and the main contribution of research in this field. The output of the model is estimated using the GMM method for the period 2010:2 to 2020:4. Findings According to Table 5, most coefficients are statistically significant. The first lag of GDP was expectedly found to have a positive, significant impact on the GDP level and, thus, economic growth. Mutual fund investment was observed to have a positive, significant impact on GDP; a 1% rise in fund investment, on average, leads to a 0.473% increase in GDP. This finding is consistent with our theoretical framework. We expect mutual funds’ investments in the primary market, positively impact GDP since mutual funds have an information advantage over individual investors. Thus, they can optimally allocate resources to high-productivity firms (i.e., mutual funds have a higher ability than individual investors to identify high-productivity firms in light of their information advantage). The household wealth coefficient was estimated to be 0.255, suggesting that a 1% increase in the household’s wealth raises GDP by 0.255% on average. This finding is consistent with economic theories. The interaction of wealth and fund investment was estimated to have a coefficient of 0.257, implying a significant relationship. This coefficient was expectedly found to be positive, consistent with modeling. The interaction of fund flows and fund investment significantly affects GDP with a coefficient of -0.174. This coefficient was expectedly found to be negative, consistent with modeling. Fund flows were estimated to have no significant impact on GDP. Although it was found to have the expected sign, it has an insignificant impact on GDP and thus cannot be interpreted. The coefficient of the secondary market return was found to be significant only at a confidence level of 90%. Discussion and Conclusion Overall, mutual funds have a positive impact on GDP. These funds may improve the performance of Iran’s financial markets if they acquire an appropriate position in the financial market. A large number of individual traders have begun to trade on Iran’s stock market without financial knowledge and suffered massive losses in 2020-2021. If the mutual fund sector is active in Iran, in addition to the optimal allocation of resources, it can also help people for investment in the stock market and prevent crises such as 2020-2021. Eventually, the policy recommendation is that policymakers pay more attention to the development of mutual funds in short- and long-term policies. Keywords: Mutual fund, Capital market, Economic growth, Primary market, GMM JEL Classification: G11, G23, G51

I show that the disclosure of mutual funds’ holdings significantly affects investors’ investment decisions. As most mutual fund websites, advertisements, and fund-trading platforms only disclose a fund’s 10 largest holdings (top-10), this study finds that investors disproportionately focus on these stocks. However, this bias does not lead to additional profit because relative to their peers, funds with good top-10 performance tend to generate poor long-term returns. I design a clean and innovative discontinuity test between the performance of the 10th and 11th portfolio holdings to examine such window dressing behavior. I find that relative to their peers, funds that are small, new, and highly active are more likely to window dress and incur greater costs if they suffer from severe capital outflows. My findings suggest that partial disclosure misleads investors and allows effective window dressing.

Accurate prediction of mutual funds' net asset value (NAV) has become increasingly important for investors. Mutual fund investors will be significantly supported by the development of models that accurately predict the future performances of mutual funds. Using these models will facilitate the selection of suitable mutual funds for investors who want to invest in the medium and long term. The aim of this study, using artificial neural networks and nonlinear autoregressive networks with exogenous inputs (NARX) methods and Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Bayesian regularization (BR), and scaled conjugate gradient training algorithms, is to predict the NAV of two Turkish mutual funds, which are Deniz Asset Management First Variable Fund (DBP) and İstanbul Asset Management Short-Term Bonds and Bills Fund, with the funds' their portfolio distributions. For this purpose, prediction models were developed with these methods, training algorithms, and some specific hyperparameters and applied to the datasets of the funds examined in the study. The performances of the developed models were compared according to the method and training algorithm pairs for each fund. For performance evaluation, mean squared error, mean absolute percent error, and coefficient of correlation statistical measures are used. From the result, it can be clearly suggested that the NARX-BR pair outperforms other models for DBP, and the NARX-LM pair outperforms other models for IST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance on mutual fund efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and hypothesis testing, we examine the effect of ESG controversies scores on mutual fund performance. Our sample comprises 17,961 mutual funds worldwide, with available data during the later phase of the pandemic. Mutual fund performance is evaluated using the DEA methodology, and efficiency scores are derived from the DEA portfolio efficiency index. To explore the impact of ESG controversies scores on mutual fund performance, the sample is divided into two categories based on the ESG controversies score quartile. The findings demonstrate that mutual funds with higher ESG controversies scores, which indicate fewer ESG controversies, outperformed those with lower scores. Specifically, mutual funds embroiled in fewer ESG controversies exhibited higher financial efficiency, regardless of their geographical investment area. These findings offer essential insights for both investors and mutual fund managers. Retail and institutional investors could recognize the potential performance gains associated with investing in socially responsible mutual funds during crisis periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, mutual fund managers should consider avoiding securities with more ESG controversies in their portfolios, considering that ESG controversies could have an adverse impact on financial efficiency during periods of health, environmental, or market crises. While our study contributes valuable insights, it is subject to limitations due to the unavailability of time-series data for mutual funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, it represents the first attempt to utilize the ESG controversies score as a determinant of mutual fund financial efficiency during the pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed analysis of management and performance fees for asset managers and investment funds is undertaken. While fund fees are considered as a cost of capital for investors, the structuring of such fee mechanisms in a fund can also influence a fund manager's decisions and investment strategy, thereby also influencing the investment performance of the investors funds. The study undertaken will allow for an assessment of the effect of fee structures and the potential for asymmetric incentives to arise that may promote adverse risk-taking behaviours by the fund manager, to the detriment of the investor or retiree who places a portion of their retirement savings into such a managed fund with such fee structures. As such, understanding the mechanism of fee charging as well as pricing the fees correctly is vital. An exploration of the application of actuarial distortion pricing methods for complete and incomplete market valuation is performed on a variety of path-dependent option-like performance fee structures for various funds in the European and American markets. Furthermore, several scenario analysis and sensitivity studies are undertaken. The class of Net Asset Value models adopted are Lévy processes, and the pricing is performed via Monte Carlo techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether bereavement affects managerial investment decisions in large organizations using the exogenous events of managers' family deaths. We find evidence that bereaved managers take less risk in separate samples of mutual funds and publicly traded firms. Mutual funds managed by bereaved managers exhibit smaller tracking errors, lower active share measures, and higher portfolio weights on larger stocks after bereavement events. Firms managed by bereaved CEOs exhibit lower capital expenditures and fewer acquisitions after bereavement events. Further analyses support the emotion-driven explanation over other explanations. The risk shifting by bereaved managers has negative implications on the performance of funds and firms that they manage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investors and other financial actors are attracted by the role of socially responsible (SR) mutual funds in the transition to a low-carbon economy. In response to the demand for more information, Morningstar reported the level of carbon risk of funds by using the following indicators: Carbon Risk, Carbon Management, Carbon Operations risk and Carbon Exposure. Dealing with a sample of 3370 equity SR mutual funds worldwide from 2017 to 2021, this study analyzes the relationships between these indicators and the expense ratio and performance of the funds. In general, the results point to funds with lower carbon scores that have lower fees and perform better than those with higher scores. Considering the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, this evidence holds true for most of the sample period analyzed. With a spatial analysis, although the evidence generally holds, regional differences are found. Thus, funds that invest in the USA and Canada are on average cheaper and show lower carbon scores, while funds that are oriented to other areas, such as emerging markets, are more expensive and show higher scores. In summary, there is good news for the utility function of the investor and the planet: Green investing is cheaper and better.

Mutual funds are a pooling of investors' financial resources which are then invested in securities such as bonds, shares, government securities and other securities, with these reinvestments managed by experts in the field. At the same time, investing in a mutual fund means buying a fund that holds more than one security, so there is no need to think about whether you are investing in a share or a bond.