FCA finds conflicts of interest in D2C platform 'best buy' lists

In its ‘occasional paper', Best buys and own brands: investment platforms' recommendations of funds, the regulator sought to identify "potential conflicts of interest when creating these lists". The report said: "Controlling for past performance, Morningstar analyst rankings, costs, and other variables, affiliated funds are significantly more likely to be added to the recommendation list than non-affiliated funds. Graham Bentley questions independence of certain 'best buy' lists "Average model-implied addition probabilities, across the three platforms and the whole data sample, for...