Incidentally, Goldman Sachs is slated to serve as the global coordinator and and book runner for its mutual fund unit's IPO.

FORBES: Julius Baer To Spin Off U.S. Mutual Fund Unit

Yes, some are banks, but they are banks with large mutual fund (or unit trust) operations.

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One way of looking at these is as if they are a unit trust (in English) or a mutual fund (in American).

FORBES: Kweku Adoboli: How Did He Lose UBS $2 Billion?

Unregulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or other relevant regulators, hedge funds are not subject to the limitations and restrictions imposed on their public fund brethren, such as retail mutual funds in the United States or authorised unit trusts in the United Kingdom.

FORBES: The Simple Truth about Hedge Funds

Fidelity Investments and American Funds, among the largest in the category, saw redemptions or weak investor interest compared with competitors, according to an analysis of mutual-fund flows done for The Wall Street Journal by research firm Strategic Insight, a unit of New York-based Asset International.

WSJ: Investors Sour on Pro Stock Pickers