SEC Updates Guidance On Mutual Fund Disclosures

The SEC Division of Investment Management (the "Division") updated its guidance on mutual fund disclosure in order to facilitate compliance with the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule. The guidance concerns procedural requirements pertaining to (i) variations in fund sales loads and new fund share classes, and (ii) certain administrative procedures intended to streamline the review of disclosure filings.

As a response to the fiduciary rule, mutual funds have been "contemplating certain changes to [f]und fee structures that would, in certain instances, level the compensation provided to a financial intermediary." The Division stated that, in implementing new variations to sales loads that apply uniformly to investors that purchase fund shares through a single intermediary (or category of multiple intermediaries), funds must "specifically identify each [i]ntermediary whose investors receive a sales load variation." The Division added that it would not "object if