SEC, NASD Collaborate on New Fee Disclosure Guidelines

Securities regulators are turning their attention to making sure investors are fully aware of newly enacted safeguards aimed at disclosing obscure fees sometimes hidden in mutual funds' prospectuses, The Washington Post reports.
After spending months hammering out new regulations requiring fund companies to highlight fees, the Securities and Exchange Commission is now questioning whether average shareholders have the means to understand the new data.
Regulators may solve the problem through a variety of strategies, such as requiring fund distributors to collect investors' signatures on new point-of-sale forms that fully disclose commissions.
Congressional financial watchdogs like Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), who is head of the Senate Banking Committee, endorse additional regulatory moves that clarify mutual fund fees for investors.
The average investor has a basic grasp of annual investment management fees, which are clearly outlined in prospectuses, but other broker compensation schemes and trading costs remain less transparent, regulators say. The National Association of Securities Dealers is also collaborating with the SEC on new strategies to further illuminate fees.