Regulation

NEW YORK—The European Union’s UCITS, or “Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities,” have been gaining tremendous traction throughout the EU, and even Latin America and Asia. Middle Eastern countries are even beginning to warm up to the instruments, as they are tightly regulated by their host countries and designed to protect the end investor.

The Senate Banking Committee will consider three nominations to the Securities and Exchange Commission this coming Tuesday, June 3.

Michael Iavarone may have rung the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday and be poised, as owner of the magnificent Big Brown, to win the Triple Crown, but he can’t win them all.

In what some in the industry are heralding as a backhanded acknowledgement of 12b-1 fees, the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly considering putting a cap on the controversial level-loads.

While it may not decide the fate of about a dozen similar “excessive fee” cases that were brought against mutual fund companies in 2003 and 2004, charging that they should impose institutional-share, rather than retail-share fees on individual investors, it is an important step in the right direction.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously last Wednesday on a proposal that would require mutual funds to provide risk/return, fee and strategy information using the same new digital data tagging system as the 500 largest U.S. corporations.

Talk about tapping into the powers that be inside the Beltway.

PHILADELPHIA - Boards may have grown in power since the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, but mutual fund companies should take care to temper that influence so it doesn't interfere with business.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously yesterday on a proposal that would require mutual funds to provide risk/return, fee and strategy information using the same new digital data tagging system as the 500 largest U.S. corporations.

The move to XBRL filings will roll out in stages, with about 500 so-called "large" domestic and foreign issuers expected to submit XBRL versions of financial reports this winter. This is according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which last week issued a rule proposal concerning XBRL adoption.