Each year, the annual update of the Investment Company Fact Book gives ICI an opportunity to present a broad overview of the investment landscape by recording, in a single volume, insights gleaned from both our members and our own research. Sometimes the developments are slow, and the...
Unintended and undesirable consequences could result from a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to eliminate credit ratings as a required element in determining which securities are permissible investments for money market funds. In a recent comment letter, we suggested a few...
Today’s Wall Street Journal included an article that attempted to analyze the debate over regulation of commodity investments through mutual funds. Unfortunately, the story omitted basic facts about mutual fund regulation and oversight, and thus fell short of providing an accurate...
Funds use swaps and other derivatives in a variety of ways to manage their investment portfolios, and many of these uses are unrelated to speculation. This is why we have been particularly concerned by a proposal from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to revise Rule 4.5...
As states and localities struggle to control their budgets, more and more policymakers are considering fundamental changes in the retirement plans offered to public employees. This year, at least eight states have taken up legislation to change part or all of their public retirement...
Retirement Assets Total $17.5 Trillion in Fourth Quarter 2010 Washington, DC, April 13, 2011 - Total U.S. retirement assets were $17.5 trillion as of December 31, 2010, up 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 and up 9.1 percent for the year. Retirement savings accounted for 37...
The New York Times recently published an article examining investor behavior in the context of an old debate: actively managed funds versus passive funds (such as index funds). When reading stories like this, it is important to keep a couple of key points in mind.
Friends and colleagues sometimes ask me, “What keeps you awake at night?” In recent months, it’s the nightmarish level of debt that the federal government is accruing. Put all politics aside: it is impossible to deny that Americans face an acute problem of budgetary overreach. Even...
U.S. Treasury and SEC Heads to Address Economic and Regulatory Issues During ICI Annual Meeting May 4–6 Agenda Also Includes An Examination of Global Retirement Issues Features Other Policymakers, Industry Leaders Washington, DC, April 12, 2011 - This year the Investment Company...
Even though our industry was not a direct target of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, funds face challenges in coping with the law’s implementation. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Fifth Annual Capital Markets Summit yesterday, I had a chance to discuss...
