Regulation

Mutual fund managers who invest in companies with strong corporate governance profiles produce better long-term returns.

CINCINNATI - Although the Investment Company Institute successfully stalled the Baker Bill last spring, Congress is likely to pass and the President Bush is likely to approve the third piece of legislation in the history of mutual funds, ICI President Matthew Fink told the Greater Cincinnati Mutual Funds Association.

In this game of high-stakes "tag," there are no more hiding places and lots of "Its."

Even before Fundgate took the industry by storm, critics were calling into question the use of 12b-1 fees. And now regulatory action appears imminent.

A former attorney turned Las Vegas hedge fund manager has reaped the biggest gains so far in the unfolding mutual fund scandal, the SEC charged.

My primary concern remains that Congress, and to a lesser extent the SEC, will rush forth some "cure-all" measures, rules, regulations and laws that are poorly conceived, perhaps along the lines of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Roy Weitz, publisher of fundalarm.com, and Jack Bogle, founder, Vanguard Group, faced off last May on some of the problems the two outspoken critics have found rife in the industry (see inaugural issue of Money Management Executive 5/19/03).

The mutual fund scandal took a surprising turn last week when Alliance Capital Management agreed to lower management fees on its funds as part of a landmark $600 million settlement that could set an alarming precedent.

The scandal of 2003 is such a pivotal event since the advent of the mutual fund industry in 1940 that there are two salient facts about it that will undoubtedly be remembered in years to come. Its magnitude and its stealth.

It's your worst nightmare come true. Regulators called yesterday to inform of their investigations into your firm's practices, and already some of the toughest news reporters in the industry have called for comments --some more than once. You are still trying to absorb the information, figure out what's what and find out who did what, when, and why?