Reign of the investment companies
NEARLY a third of Britain’s investment companies existed at the time of the Queen’s coronation in 1952, according to research compiled by the Association of Investment Companies.
The AIC said the statistics were a testament to the sector’s strength. Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director at the Association of Investment Companies, said: “In light of the financial difficulties in the eurozone, it’s fascinating to see how history can repeat itself. Indeed, many of the earlier investment companies started life as bond funds, with the move into equities not beginning in earnest until the Great Depression of the 1930s forced investors into shares due to bond defaults.”
The first investment company was founded in 1868, the same year as the last public execution in Britain.