In the wake of its two executives getting removed from the fund management team, Axis Asset Management Company has assured investors that it continues to maintain the highest governance standards, stringent protocols, and best-in-class processes for fund management. It said the company ensures compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements with a zero-tolerance policy towards any instance of non-compliance.
Axis Mutual Fund recently removed Viresh Joshi, its head trader and fund manager, from seven equity funds and Deepak Agrawal, its equity research analyst and fund manager, from the fund management team of three schemes on allegations of front running.
The seven MF schemes are: Axis Consumption ETF, Axis Banking ETF, Axis NIFTY ETF, Axis Arbitrage Fund, Axis Quant Fund, Axis Technology ETF and Axis Value Fund.
“While the review process is still continuing, we have taken action against two fund managers handling certain equity schemes (one of whom was also our chief dealer), pending further investigation. As our investigation progresses, based on the findings, we will take further action as may be necessary,” Axis Mutual Fund said in a statement on Sunday.
Axis AMC started an investigation in February 2022 and is using reputed external advisors to carry out the investigation, it added.
“To ensure business continuity, the funds managed by these managers have already been reassigned to other experienced fund managers, and we have put in place necessary arrangements for execution of trades through another dealer. There are no restriction on redemptions. In any event, we believe that the available liquidity with out funds and the quality of our portfolio will enable us to meet redemption requests from investors, it any,” the statement said.
Front-running is trading stock or any other financial asset by a broker who has inside knowledge of a future transaction that is about to affect its price substantially. A broker may also front-run based on insider knowledge that their firm is about to issue a buy or sell recommendation to clients that will almost certainly affect the price of an asset, according to Investopedia. The practice is illegal in India.
“We have always managed your money with responsibility and care over the years. Since inception, we have followed a highly disciplined strategy focused on investing in high-quality businesses with strong emphasis on the risk management,” it said in the statement.
Axis Mutual Fund said it believes that the recent developments do not impact the portfolios held by any of the schemes of Axis AMC. “Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless and should be ignored.”
According to a May 4 notice by Axis Mutual Fund, Joshi and Agarwal have been dropped as fund managers of four ETF schemes (Axis Consumption, Axis Banking, Axis Nifty, and Axis Technology) and three funds (Axis Arbitrage Fund, Axis Quant Fund and Axis Value Fund).
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