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Weiss, Gail Elizabeth (2024) Collective investment trust governance: is there sufficient oversight to protect retirement investors?: an exploration of their unique regulatory structure. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
Collective Investment Trusts ("CITs"), a unique investment fund structure created by banks and exclusively used by retirement plans the United States, have experienced significant growth over the last twenty years. This research undertaking both quantifies the increase in the use of CITs, as well as the rational for this development. Furthermore, this study investigates the fund governance mechanisms utilized by the financial institutions that are responsible for establishing CITs. The present study employed a novel methodology to assess the size of the CIT market by quantifying the number of CIT funds, as opposed to the conventional metric of assets under management typically used in asset management analysis. To supplement the quantitative data, a comprehensive examination of pertinent CIT documents was conducted, in conjunction with a series of observations of CIT governance activities and semi-structured interviews with key bank personnel. The findings of this study have substantiated the considerable expansion of Collective Investment Trusts from 2006 to 2021, alongside a decrease in the predominance of other fund structures within the United States. Furthermore, the research outcomes have shown patterns within the data, indicating the existence of three primary categories of CIT manufacturers: traditional banks, asset management firms and specialty banks. Moreover, the governance processes employed by Collective Investment Trusts exhibit notable deviations from those observed in other forms of investment funds, principally attributable to the heightened level of fiduciary duty imposed by US Federal laws and regulations. Consequently, it can be argued that CIT governance is more closely aligned with pension fund governance in that they are subject to similar constraints imposed by the same US Federal laws and regulations.
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