Who manages an investment fund?

A key figure of investment funds is the fund manager. As the term suggests, this is the company that is responsible for managing the fund, i.e. for deciding how, where, how much and when to invest the capital deposited by the unit holders.

However, the fund manager doesn't just make investment decisions. As a public limited company, it is also responsible for managing and representing the fund members. It is the fund manager that invests the investors' capital in different financial assets, such as fixed income, equities, deposits, derivatives and so on. Although the investment fund belongs to its unit holders, the fund manager is crucial because it has a duty to obtain the maximum yield from the fund.

Officially, fund managers are known as collective investment institution managers. All managers must be registered with and report to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the body responsible for auditing them. They are also required to prepare a detailed document describing the features of each of the funds they manage.

Each investment fund is designed to meet a specific investment horizon and the investor's risk profile or needs. A single investment fund may an investor's entire needs, but it is much more common to have a portfolio of investment funds based on different financial criteria to meet the full range of needs.

That said, choosing a manager with recognised standing in the sector is key when it comes to investing in investment funds. Some managers operate nationally and internationally, some are independent and some belong to a banking group. In our case, the funds we offer are managed by our own manager and by prestigious international managers carefully chosen by Bankinter to sell their funds.