SEC Poised to Issue Reimbursement Guidance

The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to issue its first guidance on how mutual fund companies caught up in the trading scandal can calculate the $2.5 billion due to shareholders through reimbursements, and investors can expect the first checks to be mailed before the end of the year, a SEC spokesman tells MarketWatch.

But meanwhile, the Commission is still sorting through comments on three different reimbursement proposals by Bank One, Pilgrim Baxter and Columbia Funds.  The two biggest problems continue to be finding investors in omnibus accounts and tracking down trades they placed years ago. As a result, not everyone is optimistic that the calculations will be accurate.

"There may be some unfairness in the way the funds distribute the money," said Niels Holch, executive director of the Coalition of Mutual Fund Investors, who wants the SEC to require fund companies to give investors through omnibus accounts the same treatment as for those who invested directly.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

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