Understanding mutual fund statements should be a heck of a lot easier now that federal regulators have okayed new disclosure rules that would spell out more clearly the fees imposed on shareholders.

Fifteen brokerages settled with the SEC and NASD for $21.5 million for not providing customers with $86 million worth of breakpoint discounts they were owed. The deal, struck earlier this month, also requires the firms to repay investors what they are owed.

Registering with the SEC should not be a requirement of hedge funds, at least not in the mind of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Robert Pozen, Massachusetts Financial Services' newest chairman, says the punishment doesn't fit the crime at his new firm.

Three U.S. Senators introduced new legislation last week aimed at reforming the $7.4 trillion mutual fund industry. The Mutual Fund Reform Act of 2004 would not only stamp out abusive trading practices but also overhaul the hidden fee structure imposed on shareholders.

Franklin Resources last week said that improper trading of its mutual fund shares were isolated incidents that do not reflect widespread company abuses and didn't harm long-term shareholders.

President Bush proposed last Monday a $913 million budget for the Securities and Exchange Commission, one that would represent a 13% increase in available funds for the regulatory agency.

Another casualty was added to the growing list of mutual fund criminals last Tuesday as a New York bank executive was hauled off in handcuffs for allegedly arranging $1 billion in financing for illegal mutual fund trades.

The SEC's Dec. 11, 2003 proposal to end forward-pricing end runs around the 4 p.m. hard NAV close, has raised criticism from 401(k) plan sponsors, investors and administrators.

Fidelity Investments might soon lose $475 million in assets that it runs for the Massachusetts state pension fund, Fidelity confirmed last week.

Six financial services companies, including UBS AG and Wachovia Corp., have reportedly agreed to settle SEC allegations that their brokers failed to give promised mutual fund discounts.

U.S. Bancorp Asset Management last week indicated in an SEC filing it is cooperating with the SEC on an informal inquiry into trading activity in the First American Small Cap Growth Opportunities fund. Spokespeople for the company did not return phone calls seeking comment.

NEW YORK -- Donald A. Yacktman, the president and chief investment officer of Yacktman Asset Management in Buffalo Grove, Ill., is no stranger to heated boardroom battles, and as the great bull run of the 1990s was reaching its heights, he made headlines as a result.

To avert any potential scandals like those that have plagued equity analysts, the Bond Market Association has drafted its own guidelines for independent fixed income research. And these are slated for discussion this Friday at a BMA-sponsored Asset Managers Forum in New York.

OXFORD, Miss. -- The mutual fund fee bill is in the mail. And it should spell out, in hard dollars and cents, all the hidden costs of mutual funds, including 12b-1 fees. And these total costs can be so significant that in some cases they are several times greater than the fund's stated expense ratio.

Separately managed account pioneer Frank Campanale doesn't see any outstanding areas where regulators might swoop in and shake up the industry's foundation like in the mutual fund arena - but thinks there is a small window that might draw scrutiny.

Jack Bogle is in demand. Senators want his opinion. The best legal minds in the industry, including ICI Chairman Paul Haaga, are sparring with him (see mutual fund summit story, page one).

NEW YORK -- Emphasizing the increased role of state attorney generals in criminal enforcement, Eliot Spitzer distinguished between recent financial services industry scandals to a packed criminal justice section of the New York State Bar Association lawyers last Thursday.

The million-dollar question of how much Putnam Investments paid to the SEC and other regulators in its settlement was answered last week - and it turned out to be a $24 million question.

WASHINGTON- Excessive fees and inadequate disclosure represent far more serious threats to mutual fund shareholders than the trading abuses uncovered in recent months and will require more stringent legislation to remedy them. And it's time to take the bull by the horns.