SEC Chairman William Donaldson said last Tuesday the agency will seek the opinions of the nation's 91 million mutual fund investors over the next 60 days on what the ideal point-of-sale and trade-confirmation reports should look like for broker-sold funds.
On www.sec.gov, investors will be able to find sample forms, designed for ease of use and understanding. One would spell out the fees as well as the conflicts of interest for funds sold through a broker. The second would be a confirmation report modeled after a stock confirmation ticket.
While little known, the SEC has held focus groups before, going back five and six years ago when it began market-testing streamlined prospectuses.
Investors "are going to be shocked that this is going on," John Markese, president of the American Association of Individual Investors told Dow Jones. AAII as well as the National Association of Investors Corp. are both cooperating with the SEC on this project.
As is always the case, the SEC is also seeking industry input.
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