On Friday, for the second week in a row, the Ninth Circuit reversed dismissal of a 401(k) plan excessive fee litigation challenging the offering of retail share classes of mutual funds instead of cheaper institutional share...more
We are actively looking for circumstances where an adviser is financially conflicted by incentives that could affect investment recommendations to clients. ... And I will tell you: the more we look, the more undisclosed or...more
Over the past several years, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement activity has eroded the stability of the once-standard lineup of share classes available to mutual fund investors. Starting with...more
On Aug. 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) charged Commonwealth Equity Services LLC, dba Commonwealth Financial Network (Commonwealth), a registered independent investment adviser to private clients (but not...more
Best Practices: Lessons Learned from Litigation—the Anthem Case - I am writing two series of articles that together are called “The Bests.” One is about Best Practices for Plan Sponsors, while the other is about the Best...more
About a year ago, the SEC offered investment advisors the unique opportunity to report themselves to the SEC if they sold mutual funds to their clients that offered a lower priced share class than the class actually selected...more
The Share Class Initiative - On February 12, 2018, the Division of Enforcement of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative (Initiative), which informed SEC...more
On February 12, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced an initiative to address undisclosed conflicts of interest by investment advisers in the context of mutual fund share classes. Dubbed the Share Class...more
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement announced a new cooperation initiative addressed to investment advisers who have failed to disclose conflicts arising from the receipt of 12b-1 fees from mutual funds. In essence, the...more
When it comes to mutual funds offered under 401(k) plans, I’ve always believed that the multiple share classes was something out of an alphabet soup. I’m not an advisor, so I don’t know how or why there is so many share...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission Adopts Amendments to Form ADV and Investment Adviser Act Rules - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Form ADV and Investment Advisers Act of 1940...more