On October 28, 2020, the SEC adopted a new rule designed to address the investor protection purposes and concerns underlying Section 18 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. More specifically, Rule 18f-4 provides an updated and more comprehensive approach to the regulation of funds’ use of derivatives. This Rule is effective for all funds February 19, 2021, with a compliance date of August 19, 2022. While the final Rule offers a more than 450-page comprehensive framework for funds utilizing derivatives, management and Boards of funds not employing derivatives, or utilizing them on a limited basis, still should be aware of the impact of certain key points of the Rule.
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On October 28, 2020, the SEC adopted a new Rule designed to address the investor protection purposes and concerns underlying Section 18 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. More specifically, Rule 18f-4 provides an updated and more comprehensive approach to the regulation of funds’ use of derivatives. This Rule is effective for all funds February 19, 2021, with a compliance date of August 19, 2022.
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In BBD's latest Webcast, John Braun and Cory Stewart teamed up with Steve Connors from SEI and David Freese and Sean Graber from Morgan Lewis for a dynamic discussion on the SEC's new proposed filing and disclosure modernization.
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One of the main provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) was Section 163(j), which limits the deductibility of business interest expense (“BIE”) for corporations. On July 28, 2020, Treasury and the IRS released proposed regulations that provided substantial guidance, specifically with its application to Regulated Investment Companies (“RICs”).
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On August 5, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a rule proposal to modernize the disclosure framework specific to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (collectively referred to herein as “funds”). The general premise of the proposed rule is that different presentations are useful to different audiences relating to a fund’s reporting of operations and offerings. More specifically, while the traditional methods of providing full financial statements and a prospectus to shareholders may be useful to investment professionals and institutional investors, the average investor finds this information clumsy and confusing and would rather have more limited and graphical information focused on items such as the performance and expenses of the fund. In fact, it would not surprise most in the industry to find out that most retail investors are not engaging in a detailed review of the financial statements or offering documents.
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In BBD's latest Webcast, John Braun and Cory Stewart teamed up with Joanne Huckle from Ogier and BBD Cayman partner Sam Young for a lively discussion on an important Cayman funds update.
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BBD partner John Braun recently offered his gatekeeper perspective on the evolution of fair value and the SEC's proposed Rule 2a-5 in a Viewpoints column for Fund Board Views.
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Exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) have risen in popularity among asset managers and investors in recent years for several reasons, not the least of which is the tax efficient nature of the vehicles. Despite this benefit, many active managers have been reluctant to enter the ETF space. Of primary concern to active managers is the requirement for ETFs to publish their portfolios, or “baskets,” daily. This transparency effectively allows others a look under the hood, which could lead to front running, which is the practice where traders buy ahead of large orders from ETFs and short sell ahead of large sell orders. This could result in ETFs paying more to purchase securities in the market and receiving less to sell securities. Another potential negative result of this transparency is the possibility of another provider effectively cloning an existing transparent ETF and offering it with a lower expense ratio.
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