Practice

NEW YORK - The SEC this year will finalize its proposed rules that funds invest, under normal market conditions, at least 80 percent of their assets in a manner consistent with the name of the fund, said Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is making minor changes to the new Form ADV rules it adopted in September requiring investment advisers to file the form electronically, the SEC announced late last month.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted new independent directors rules that will require that a fund board's membership be made up of a majority of independent directors instead of the current 40 percent requirement.

When Arthur Levitt announced that he was stepping down as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Washington lawyers predictably began speculating on his replacement almost immediately. It might be some time, however, before President-elect George Bush makes the appointment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is implementing minor changes to the new Form ADV rules it adopted in September, which require investment advisers to file the form electronically, the SEC has announced.

An administrative law judge has revoked the registration to operate as an investment adviser of Piper Capital Management of Minneapolis, a unit of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, and fined the firm $2.005 million. The actions, by Judge H. Peter Young, came in an initial decision with regard to allegations brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC's division of enforcement, in the decision, characterized the proceeding as "one of the largest and most complex it has ever conducted."

The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York has granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit charging Prudential Life Insurance Company of America of Newark, N.J. with attaching excessive fees to its variable annuities.

The National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation last week issued a complaint against Dean Witter Reynolds of New York alleging the company used deceptive practices in the marketing of its proprietary bond funds known as Term Trusts.

Earlier this month, NASD Regulation proposed a rule change which would give mutual fund companies more flexibility with regard to related performance' information in fund advertisements, according to Cindy Fornelli, senior advisor to the director of the division of investment management of the Securities and Exchange Commission. While the SEC supports the proposed changes, it would still like to see changes in the rules regarding manager performance, Fornelli said. NASD Regulation is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers of Washington, D.C.

The Business Checking Modernization Act, a bill in Congress that would repeal a law prohibiting banks from paying interest on business checking accounts, could create a new major competitor for money market funds.