What is a trust fund? What kinds of trust funds are there?

Trust fund, also known as investment fund, is a * * * investment model of "benefit sharing and risk sharing". It refers to a * * * investment trust system in which the unequal funds of most investors who are uncertain in the society are pooled in the form of contracts or companies by issuing fund bonds to form a certain scale of trust assets, and the profits obtained by diversified investment by specialized investment institutions according to the principle of combination are shared by investors in proportion to their capital contribution and bear corresponding risks.

Funds in a broad sense are collectively referred to as institutional investors, including trust and investment funds, unit trust funds, provident funds, insurance funds and retirement funds. Funds in the existing securities market, including closed-end funds and open-end funds, have the characteristics of income function and value-added potential. From the accounting point of view, dialysis fund refers to funds with specific purposes and uses. Because * * * and institutional investors do not require investment returns and investment recovery, but require funds to be used for designated purposes in accordance with legal provisions or investors' wishes, funds are formed.

The funds we are talking about now usually refer to securities investment funds.

Securities investment fund is an indirect way of securities investment. Fund management companies concentrate investors' funds by issuing fund shares, which are managed by fund custodians, that is, qualified banks. Fund managers manage and use funds to invest in financial instruments such as stocks and bonds, and then share the investment risks and benefits.

kind

According to different standards, securities investment funds can be divided into different types:

According to whether fund units can be increased or redeemed, they can be divided into open-end funds and closed-end funds. Open-end funds are not listed, but are redeemed through bank subscription, and the scale of funds is not fixed; Closed-end funds have a fixed duration, and the fund size is fixed during the duration. Generally listed on the stock exchange, investors buy and sell fund shares through the secondary market.

According to different organizational forms, it can be divided into corporate funds and contractual funds. Funds usually set up investment fund companies by issuing fund shares, which are called corporate funds; Fund managers, fund custodians and investors are usually called contractual funds through fund contracts. At present, China's securities investment funds are all contractual funds.

According to the difference of investment risk and income, it can be divided into growth fund, income fund and balanced fund.

According to different investment objects, it can be divided into stock funds, bond funds, money market funds and futures funds.

Trust period

The short trust period is basically 1-2 years. In fact, China residents are not short of long-term funds to save for the aged, children's education and marriage. However, the main reasons for the short trust period are: investors expect short-term gains and are skeptical about long-term financial management; The financial management ability and brand of trust companies are still unconvincing to investors. Due to the limitation of the number of trust contracts, trust companies have to find corporate institutional clients in order to raise sufficient funds, and the funds of corporate institutional clients are often short-term. Although China's social security fund Council and other large institutions have long-term funds, they can't buy trust funds at present. In addition, loan trusts cannot be developed into long-term financial management varieties.

According to the organization mode of funds, American industrial investment funds are divided into two organizational forms: trust system and company system, also known as contract type and company type. The former is based on the trust legal system, while the latter is based on the company legal system. The trust system can meet the flexibility requirements between the parties, while the company system can protect the interests of investors and shareholders well. In the United States, industrial investment funds mainly adopt the corporate system, because "paper companies" are allowed to exist as ad hoc entities. Some adopt the trust system, and some are listed on the stock exchange in the form of beneficiary certificates with good liquidity.

The typical representative of trust funds is securities investment funds, which are called mutual funds in the United States. Because the equity of developed enterprises in the American securities market has been highly securitized, the legal system is relatively sound, and the quality of standardized listed companies is relatively high, the American environment has promoted the great development of securities investment funds.

In contrast, industrial investment funds are generally inconspicuous. Some can be publicly offered, and some can be privately offered. The main investment targets of industrial investment funds are small and medium-sized enterprises, and high-tech growth enterprises are mainly engaged in business venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, MBO, real estate and so on. And their business risks are relatively high. Industrial investment funds can generally make multiple continuous investments in the target enterprises. Because of the convenience of IPO in American stock market, the industrial investment fund can withdraw smoothly, and the capital utilization mode of industrial investment fund is mainly equity investment. Usually, fund managers will serve as directors in the target company and participate in the business management activities of the enterprise, which has a great influence on the enterprise.

In the operation of industrial investment funds, conflicts of interest arise because of the information asymmetry between natural persons of fund managers, employees of fund managers, legal persons of fund managers and investors. In order to avoid this problem, industrial investment funds mostly adopt limited and general partner system arrangements: fund managers are limited partners, and their respective investment ratios and share project benefits are different, so as to motivate fund managers and protect investors' interests.

Observing the development of American industrial investment funds has played a positive role: avoiding excessive concentration of financing in banks and making the social financing structure more reasonable; Provide long-term and stable funds for enterprises and form diversified financing channels; Promote the transformation of new scientific and technological achievements into productive forces; Enrich investors' financial choices.

Trust is one of the important contributions of common law to the world legal system. It originated from the land use relationship in medieval England, that is, the landowner gave the land to others for possession and use, but agreed that the land proceeds would belong to the original landowner. After the controversy,

trust fund

Because ordinary courts failed to protect the rights of beneficiaries according to the theory of ownership transfer, the equity court in Henry III, England fairly protected the rights and interests of the parties according to the principle of fairness and justice, and finally formed a trust system in the16th century. Therefore, the so-called trust refers to the system that the property owner gives the property to the trustee for possession and use based on trust, but agrees to give the proceeds to a specific person or to achieve a specific purpose. Based on this, people can use wills or contracts. The establishment of trust for various legal purposes in civil, commercial or public welfare fields is not regarded as a unique legal structure with deep social functions. Trust legal relationship has four elements. One is the trustee, that is, the person who gives the property to others for the purpose of not breaking the law; Secondly, the trustee of a trust is a person who accepts the entrustment of others and occupies and manages the property of others for his own benefit; The third is the beneficiary of the trust, that is, the person who does not own the property under management but has the right to obtain the income from the property; The fourth is the trust property, that is, the trust object.

Therefore, trust can be understood as that the trustor has handed over the trust property to the trustee. Although the trustee has obtained the ownership, he does not enjoy the right to control others for his own benefit or according to his own will, but only has the obligation to control others according to the wishes of the principal for the benefit of the principal or other persons designated by the principal. In the early days of the old China and People's Republic of China (PRC), the bank's trust business 1952 was completely cancelled.

1979 10 the establishment of China international trust and investment company directly under the central government is the beginning of trust practice in China. The Trust Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) promulgated by the National People's Congress on April 28th, 20001established the principles of lawful trust purpose, separation of trust property rights and interests, independence of trust property, trust fairness, trust inheritance and prevention of conflicts of interest.

The United States is a country with active investment funds. However, the western countries represented by the United States do not have a precise and unified definition of industrial investment funds. On many occasions, it is just a general and broad title. Mainly refers to the fund manager to raise funds from a number of enterprises and residents, and then invest in non-listed companies to hold their shares or buy other forms of property, such as real estate, and distribute the proceeds to investors. It includes not only investment funds of non-listed companies in a stable development stage, but also venture capital funds and real estate investment funds REIT.