April 20, 1993
TO: BOARD OF GOVERNORS NO. 35-93
MEMBERS - ONE PER COMPLEX NO. 33-93
MARKETING POLICY COMMITTEE NO. 19-93
DIRECT MARKETING COMMITTEE NO. 28-93
INDUSTRY STATISTICS COMMITTEE NO. 7-93
PUBLIC INFORMATION COMMITTEE NO. 25-93
RESEARCH COMMITTEE NO. 14-93
SALES FORCE MARKETING COMMITTEE NO. 28-93
SHAREHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE NO. 23-93
RE: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S DAILY FUND TABLES
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The Wall Street Journal made an important change in its
daily fund tables beginning with the April 14 edition. By
expanding the number of fund categories involved in the daily A
through E quintile rankings to 27 from the original 10, the
Journal has taken a significant step to reduce the confusion that
resulted from using overly broad fund categories.
While this modification does not resolve all the problems
that were cited in letters written to the Journal by a number of
members and the Institute, it was the most serious concern cited
by most of us. Thus, we are pleased that the Journal has once
again responded to expressions of concern from the fund industry.
(As you may recall, during the planning phase for the expanded
tables last fall, the Journal responded to our concerns by
reducing their emphasis on short term performance and agreeing to
provide load and expense ratio data on the same day rather than
on separate days.)
We thank each of you who wrote to the Journal or discussed
your concerns with the Institute staff. Your insights were
critical in persuading the Journal to modify the tables. We will
continue to be in contact with Journal editors and reporters on a
number of issues, including this one. Thus, it would be helpful
if you continue to provide Erick Kanter with specific examples of
how shareholder understanding of the Journal tables could be
further enhanced.
Matthew P. Fink
President