Increased Transparency Proposed for the Investment Advisory Contract Approval Process

From the Investment Management Practice Group

This has been (and continues to be) a period of extraordinary change in the investment management industry. During the past three months, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has issued numerous proposed and final rulemakings affecting mutual funds and investment advisers. (At right is our survey of recent SEC regulatory activity.) This article briefly discusses one of these proposals: the SEC ’s recent initiative to increase the transparency of a fund ’s investment advisory contract approval process undertaken by its board of directors.¹ The SEC hopes that the increased transparency will be another important step in its various efforts to assure fair and reasonable fund fees.