During the debates, she explained to parliament the problems with original guidance provided by the Investment Association (which had been created at the request of the FCA).
She told peers her amendment "concerned an alarming example of harm to the economy and proposed a solution through a specific legislative amendment.
"It aims to fix a competitiveness and investment issue with listed closed-ended investment funds."
She explained how the original IA guidance set out how ongoing charges should be presented in collective investment schemes that invest in other funds.
That guidance equated ITs with open-ended funds, requiring internal running costs incurred at the investee investment trust level to be aggregated as a cost. The IA amended its stance and wrote an open letter to the FCA, but the interpretation remained in place.
As she said in the debate: "This set aside the fact that, unlike with units of open-ended funds, investors have already factored such charges into the price that they are prepared to pay for the shares of the investment."
Despite proposing a fix and explaining why it was needed, the amendment was not passed.
Ulterior motives
Altmann admitted to attendees at the Gravis Capital webinar that legislative changes "take an inordinate amount of time" in any case, and called for more timely fixes to be considered ahead of any new legislation.
The FCA spokesperson added: “We look forward to the government and Parliament providing us with the powers to enact these reforms.”
But Altmann said while government and regulators prevaricate, the problem persists - and this raised other questions about overall motives for regulating the financial services sector.
She added: "It is easy to have theories of [ulterior motives] but is there a push to consolidation? Do they want just a few big funds?
"If that is the case, we are doing ourselves a big disservice, for it is smaller specialist experts and investment companies who really know their onions, and who can make a huge difference to clients and the economy itself.
"I hope this is a function of unintended misunderstandings that can be remedied as soon as possible, rather than an attempt to squash the sector."
