Breach of internal code of conduct will not hurt investors, biz: DSP MF

DSP MF says it is probing action of six sales employees for extending loans to two individuals

DSP Mutual Fund (MF) said Thursday code of conduct breaches by six of its sales department employees will not impact its investors or company's business.

"It is important to note that the said breaches related to transactions done in their personal capacity and have absolutely no effect on investors, distributors or the business. The internal inquiry committee has till date found no evidence of any insider trading or front-running or any other illegal activities. The organisation’s actions are a reinforcement of our commitment and belief in our core pillars: honesty and integrity," said a statement by the fund house.

"There is no possibility of front-running or insider trading as there are strict Chinese walls between different teams of the fund house. Sales people have no access to investment team's decisions," said a spokesperson for the fund house, 

Earlier, a report on a Hindi portal had alleged that the six employees unfairly used their access to the fund house's investment decisions and fed the information to a former employee. This former employee in turn would buy and sell shares on behalf these employees. However, the company spokesperson dismissed these allegations as completely baseless.

Stating the nature of violations by these employees - who have tendered their resignations with the internal probe still on -- the fund house said, "It had come to our notice that certain employees of DSP Investment Managers were providing personal loans to two individuals, including an ex-colleague, which were not reported to the company. In line with our internal code of conduct, provision of such repeated loan constitutes an activity that needs to be reported to the company and approved on a case-to-case basis. Non-reporting of such activity constitutes a breach of the internal code of conduct."

"Being a fiduciary, we follow a zero tolerance policy for non-compliance with any regulations or code of conduct," the fund house added.

While these employees have tendered their resignations, the fund house stated that resignations have been accepted subject to the assurance of full co-operation from the employees in the ongoing investigation.