The Securities and Exchange Commission failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that the new proxy vote disclosure rule meets the standards of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Investment Company Institute has charged.
This is the last-ditch effort that the ICI is making to stall the hotly contested proxy rule, in a letter the ICI has reportedly sent to the Office of Management and Budget.
The ICI charges in its letter that the SEC did not demonstrate that the disclosure of fund proxy voting records is necessary to protect investors and has reportedly asked the SEC to withdraw the pending regulation until a thorough cost/benefit analysis is completed.
Industry insiders don't expect the OMB to try and usurp the powers of the SEC (see MFMN 3/17/03). It is possible the OMB will try and handle this unprecedented matter by recommending that the SEC revisit the issue in 18 months.
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