Practice

BOSTON - The SEC's fact-finding examinations of the securities execution practices of mutual funds are unlikely to result in a public report, said Edward A. Ryan, Jr., assistant district administrator for regulation in the SEC's Boston office. It is unclear how the SEC will use the data gathered from the exams, he said. The SEC could issue a statement discussing execution practices or it could propose a rule, he said.

A NASD Regulation proposal to prohibit broker/dealers from paying their registered representatives more for selling the broker/dealer's own mutual funds than for selling outside funds has run into opposition from trade groups representing the securities and mutual fund industries.

If the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 is enacted, mutual fund companies will buy insurance and banking companies while at the same time becoming acquisition targets of those same firms, industry consultants say. The bill would spur a race to offer clients a wide array of investment products, they say.

A handful of mutual funds that invest in the securities of Taiwanese companies were slow to respond after an earthquake forced the closing of the Taiwan stock market for a week, said Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management.

Participants in corporate defined contribution plans serviced by Fidelity Investments of Boston are saving an average of seven percent of their income, Fidelity has found.

WASHINGTON - The SEC will continue to pay attention to mutual fund advertising, but it is potential scrutiny of fund ads by plaintiffs' lawyers that is giving some industry participants pause.

WASHINGTON - If the test for success for new regulations is that they contain a little something to annoy just about everyone, the SEC staff has hit a home run with the rules it has proposed for mutual fund directors.

It was not a resounding victory for those who want to job hop, but top executives who formerly worked at State Street Global Advisors of Boston have been allowed to join a competitor despite a non-compete agreement SSgA contends prohibited the move.

American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo. has teamed up with Automatic Data Processing of Roseland, N.J. to provide 401(k) plans to small businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing a new rule that would formally permit mutual fund companies to invest in repurchase agreements (repo's) and pre-refunded bonds (pre-re's). Since the early 1980's, the SEC has not taken an official position but has informally viewed repo's and pre-re's as collateralized investments. It has done this by responding with so-called no-action letters to requests from fund companies to invest in repos and pre-re's.