About 40% of mutual funds are run by asset management divisions of groups whose primary activity is commercial banking. This creates a potential conflict of interest—fund managers who are employees of commercial (or investment) banking organizations may act in ways that benefit their organizations’ interests at the expense of fund investors. Alternatively, lending could generate private information about borrowers via credit origination, monitoring and renegotiation that is valuable for the bank-affiliated fund manager, providing an exploitable advantage for fund investors.