The investment of money in a financial product providing the option to invest in a diversified portfolio of financial instruments, according to the selected type is, in our opinion, a simple definition of the investment fund.
There are several Investment funds (also referred to as mutual funds), classified according to the majority financial instrument class in the portfolio. Therefore, we distinguish between stock funds that mostly invest in stocks, diversified funds, bond funds and monetary funds.
Investment funds are closely supervised by the Romanian National Securities Commission, within the meaning of Law 297/2004 on the capital market and of Regulation no. 15/2004 on the authorization and operation of investment administration companies, undertakings for collective investments and depositories.
The Fund depository is the bank institution certifying the fund unit value and supervising and ensuring the accuracy of the investment fund asset rating.
The Fund Administrators Association (the former UNOPC - The National Union of the Undertakings for Collective Investment) aims to ensure improvement, and it is a body including the 19 investment administration companies, that, in their own turn, administer 54 open-end investment funds and 14 closed-end investment funds. This association is affiliated to EFAMA (European Fund and Asset Management Association) and it contributes to the establishment and development of the general organizational, legal and professional framework ensuring the improvement of the members’ activity.