Recently in India we have found out that a lot of big financial institutions have been cooking their books. And both the auditors and regulators have failed miserably and can not be trusted to do their jobs.
Are the shares bought by the mutual funds held in an independent, third party like a depository or a trust? So that I don't have to completely rely on the mutual fund company and be sure that the my SIPs are used to buy shares and are not diverted and lent to some shady real-estate company or jeweler with very good credit rating.
E.g. I get statments from the depository (NSDL or CDSL) about the shares I purchased through my brokerage account, so I don't have to completely rely on the broker's statment.