Over the past year, mutual funds have paid more than $2.6 billion in fines, seen nearly two dozen firms implicated, experienced the firing of more than 80 key executives and have had to comply with a multitude of new regulations from the SEC and the NASD.
If the industry thought it could breathe a collective sigh of a relief now that all has been said and done, it has news coming to it, USA Today reports. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer promises to bring a host of more cases and the SEC has yet to rule on a number of other key provisions.
While Spitzer does not foresee bringing new types of cases, he says hes not through prosecuting firms for the types of wrongdoing hes uncovered thus far. "We should keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things, a year is not a terribly lengthy period of time," he said. "Were getting there, but theres still much to be done. There will be more cases made, both civil and criminal."
For its part, the Commission still has to rule on new point-of-sale disclosure, the hard 4 p.m. close (or an alternative to accommodate 401(k) investors, as it has indicated) and mandatory redemption fees. Rules the SEC has already passed include: a chief compliance officer; three-quarters of the board being independent, including the chairman; a justification of fees by directors in shareholder reports; a ban on directed brokerage; quarterly updates of portfolio holdings; and compensation disclosure.
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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.
