The governance of Italian asset management companies: some considerations

Asset management is a key sector of the Italian financial system, and its corporate governance (CG) is a key issue. This article investigates CG of Italian asset management companies (AMCs) by observing a sample of banking and independent AMCs from 2006 to 2010. The purpose of our research is to establish whether the governance structure of Italian AMCs influences products and profitability. We use the seemingly unrelated regression methodology. We find that the CG system may affect mutual fund categories offered by Italian AMCs. Moreover, the mutual funds category may contribute to AMC profitability. Our results have interesting operating implications concerning the Italian asset management market, characterised by a potential conflict of interest. A better CG structure of asset managers could contribute to improving their performances and reducing commissions charged to clients