“The SEC today
broadened the scope of critical pricing information available to investors and
took an important step in bolstering public trust and confidence in the
industry by requiring investment advisers to adopt a code of professional
ethics,” said SIA President Marc E. Lackritz.
“SIA strongly supports both new rules and is committed to continuing to
work with the regulator on reforms that will help us to better serve our
clients.”
At today’s open
meeting, the commission adopted amendments to Form N-1A under the Securities
Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, requiring
open-end management investment companies to provide enhanced prospectus
disclosure regarding breakpoint discounts on front-end sales loads. These changes were influenced in part by recommendations
from the NASD/Industry Task Force on Breakpoints, on which SIA played an active
role. SIA expressed its support for the
proposal in a comment letter sent to SEC earlier this year [http://www.sia.com/2004_comment_letters/pdf/SEC02-13-04.pdf
].
The commission also voted to adopt new rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which requires investment advisers to adopt a code of ethics establishing standards of conduct and addressing conflicts arising from personal trading by advisory professionals. In March of this year SIA filed a comment letter [http://www.sia.com/2004_comment_letters/pdf/SEC03-15-04.pdf] in support of the proposed rule.
