"The rise of fund investors has been the most important development in the financial markets since the end of World War II."

Paul Schott Stevens Investment Company Institute President, CEO

So argues Paul Schott Stevens, the president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), in an interview with InvestmentNews. On Tuesday, Stevens publicly confirmed that he will retire from the trade group at the end of the year. (The board is conducting a search for his successor.)

In the interview, Stevens, who has led ICI for 16 years, reflects on his tenure and on the growth of the industry: despite the financial crisis, the industry has nearly tripled in AUM since he started.

"We have succeeded wildly in terms of attracting invesetor money in the United States and as a global phenomenon," Stevens tells InvestmentNews. "With all that success comes much more scrutiny and much greater responsibility. When regulators ask us, are we managing liquidity appropriately, are we managing leverage appropriately ... are we managing risk to the financial system, we understand these are legitimate questions to be asking an industry of our size and scope."

Stevens argues that trying "to bring facts to the table," in part through ICI's lobbying efforts, is a key part of the trade group's role.

"I've always found in Washington that facts sometimes are in short supply," Stevens tells the pub. "People have convictions but they don't always have facts."

In the interview, Stevens also touches regulatory topics like 12b-1, reg BI, and the fallen DoL fiduciary rule. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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