Breaking News
Investing Pro 0
Last Call for Cyber Monday! Save Now on Claim 60% OFF

SEC tightens rules on fund names and investment strategies correlation

Published Sep 21, 2023 02:24AM ET
Saved. See Saved Items.
This article has already been saved in your Saved Items
 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has updated its regulations to require investment fund managers to clarify the relationship between their funds' names and their investment strategies. The new rule, passed on Wednesday, mandates that a fund should invest at least 80% of its assets in alignment with its name. This regulation is an enhancement from previous rules established in 2001 and aims to adapt to changes within the fund industry.

SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, who proposed the rule change, believes this requirement will assist investors in understanding what fund marketers imply when they use terms like "big data" or "artificial intelligence" in their fund names. The rule will obligate fund prospectuses to clarify the terminology used in a fund's name and explain the criteria employed by managers to select investments that align with the name. These criteria will be incorporated into the fund's official investment policy.

The new regulation met resistance from Mark Uyeda, one of the two Republican members of the commission, who voted against it, citing it as too demanding. However, Hester Peirce, the other Republican member, supported the rule change.

The updated rule comes as a response to changes in the fund industry which include an increase in managed funds and a rise in themed funds that pursue specialized strategies. Funds focusing on environmental, social, or governance objectives are recent examples.

The regulations will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Fund groups managing at least $1 billion will have a 12-month period to comply, while smaller fund groups will be given 18 months. Approximately 75% of funds, totaling around 10,000, will fall under these new name rules.

The rule allows for some flexibility regarding the requirement that 80% of assets align with the fund's theme. This condition applies when managers initially invest the fund's assets. However, due to fluctuations in holdings and securities prices, the SEC requires managers to review their compliance quarterly. If a fund's holdings drop below the 80% threshold, it has roughly 90 days to regain compliance. Derivatives such as swaps, options, and futures will also count towards this 80%.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

SEC tightens rules on fund names and investment strategies correlation
 

Related Articles

Add a Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:  

  •            Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.

  •           Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed. 

  •           Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.

  • Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases. Comments that are written in all caps and contain excessive use of symbols will be removed.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and comments containing links will be removed. Phone numbers, email addresses, links to personal or business websites, Skype/Telegram/WhatsApp etc. addresses (including links to groups) will also be removed; self-promotional material or business-related solicitations or PR (ie, contact me for signals/advice etc.), and/or any other comment that contains personal contact specifcs or advertising will be removed as well. In addition, any of the above-mentioned violations may result in suspension of your account.
  • Doxxing. We do not allow any sharing of private or personal contact or other information about any individual or organization. This will result in immediate suspension of the commentor and his or her account.
  • Don’t monopolize the conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also strongly believe in giving everyone a chance to air their point of view. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.
  • Any comment you publish, together with your investing.com profile, will be public on investing.com and may be indexed and available through third party search engines, such as Google.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Write your thoughts here
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
Post also to:
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Thanks for your comment. Please note that all comments are pending until approved by our moderators. It may therefore take some time before it appears on our website.
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block

Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?

By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.

%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List

Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.

Report this comment

I feel that this comment is:

Comment flagged

Thank You!

Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Continue with Google
or
Sign up with Email