A Study on Multi-Class Fund Flows and Consumer Protection

We examine whether the suitability principles hold for the mutual fund industry in Korea, by analyzing the dynamics and the characteristics of the multi-class fund flows. For 12-years from 2002 to 2013, the volatility of fund flows associated with A-class fund, which is more appropriate for long-term investments, is larger than that associated with C-class fund. Therefore, it can be interpreted that the suitability principles do not hold. To examine the empirical observation, we mainly focus on the role of the dollar cost averaging (DCA) style funds. We show that if we adjust for the effect of DCA funds, the suitability principles does not hold only before the 2008 financial crisis. Thus, we argue that individuals' irrational decision making is caused by heavy investments on A-class fund through DCA style types before the financial crisis. This leads to the observed violation of the suitability principles before the crisis. Our findings also suggest that after the financial crisis, the mutual fund industry in Korea becomes mature.