Regulation

Earlier this month, NASD Regulation proposed a rule change which would give mutual fund companies more flexibility with regard to related performance' information in fund advertisements, according to Cindy Fornelli, senior advisor to the director of the division of investment management of the Securities and Exchange Commission. While the SEC supports the proposed changes, it would still like to see changes in the rules regarding manager performance, Fornelli said. NASD Regulation is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers of Washington, D.C.

The Business Checking Modernization Act, a bill in Congress that would repeal a law prohibiting banks from paying interest on business checking accounts, could create a new major competitor for money market funds.

The SEC has adopted new auditor independence rules with several notable changes from the original rule proposal.

A request by the McGraw-Hill Companies of New York for a public hearing on the Vanguard Group's efforts to add an exchange-traded share class will most likely be denied, allowing Vanguard to launch the new shares, according to industry analysts.

BOSTON -The Securities and Exchange Commission is most likely to investigate fund companies about their allocation of 'hot IPOs' when a firm fails to provide adequate information about their allocations, according to Victoria Hulick, director of

John Clifton Bogle is not only the founder of Vanguard but also the pioneer of the first no-load and the first index mutual fund. After stepping down as senior chairman of The Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa. last December, Bogle became president of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center, a think-tank at Vanguard headquarters.

WASHINGTON - The SEC will adopt a rule by year-end requiring a fund's name reflect at least 80 percent of its holdings, Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management, told a symposium here Oct. 12.

In spite of requests to delay the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed at press time that it would take effect on Oct. 23.

WASHINGTON D.C. - The prevailing industry stance that more frequent disclosure of fund holdings would only confuse investors is hurting the industry's reputation, according to several analysts and industry executives who spoke at a conference here last week on fund disclosure.

TORONTO - Currently, there is no standardized fund regulation in Canada and many fund complexes are structured as trusts, overseen by trustees, who use an advisory regulatory model. The advisory board offers guidance but has no decision-making authority over the fund complex. Altamira and Royal Mutual Funds currently use this model.