The Swedish Investment Fund Association’s “Swedish Code of Conduct for fund management companies” includes provisions that go beyond those of legislative and other regulatory requirements, indicating a higher level of ambition than that expressed in the legislative requirements. The aim of the Swedish Code of Conduct is to gather the overriding principles that should characterise a sound investment fund sector.
The Code is based on the “comply or explain”-principle. The members of the Association shall clearly indicate that they adhere to the Code and state any discrepancies.
One of the most important principles of the Code is that at least half of the members of the board of fund management companies shall be independent. This is an important starting point to ensure that the common interest of the unit holders is safeguarded.
The difference between guidelines and guidance is that the guidelines occasionally express requirements that exceed those imposed by laws and regulations, while the guidance is more in the nature of support and assistance for the members on issues that are, in some cases, regulated in laws and regulations. The aim of guidance documents is to help maintain a sound and transparent investment fund sector by ensuring industry-wide interpretations of laws and regulations. Guidance documents can be found here.