Fund Democracy Insights

Resource Materials

May 2002

Subscribe to Fund Democracy Insights

The May 2002 issue of Fund Democracy Insights explains why the time is right for a unified fee investment company (a structure proposed by the SEC staff a decade ago), dissects the court's analysis in Vanguard v. Standard & Poor's, and analyzes the ascendance of the superstar brand in the field of index investing.

Table of Contents

May 2002

Links to resource materials (.pdf files require Adobe Acrobat for viewing):

The Unified Fee Investment Company: Its Time Has Come

• Protecting Investors: A Half Century of Investment Company Regulation, Division of Investment Management, SEC, 332-345 (May 1992) (discussing the unified fee investment company)
• Report on Mutual Fund Fees and Expenses, Division of Investment Management, SEC (Dec. 2000)
• Mutual Fund Fees: Additional Disclosure Could Encourage Price Competition, Government Accounting Office (June 2000)
• Whitney Dow, Redemption Fees Surge 82% Since 1999: Assessment Periods Lengthen, While Fees Remain Constant, Financial Research Corporation (June 2001)(search "Redemption Fees Surge 82%" for link to article)

Vanguard v. Standard & Poor's: The Essential ETF

• The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. v. Vanguard Index Trust and The Vanguard Group, Inc., 00 Civ. 4247 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 25, 2001)
• The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. v. Vanguard Index Trust and The Vanguard Group, Inc., No. 01-7551 (2d. Cir., Nov. 1, 2001) (confirming district court order without discussion)

The Value of an Index

• S&P 500 Index Methodology, Standard & Poor’s (undated) (technical explanation of the methodology used to create the S&P 500 index)
• General Criteria for S&P U.S. Index Membership, Standard & Poor’s (Sep. 2000)
• U.S. Benchmark Review, Standard & Poor's (Jan. 31, 2002)
• Floyd Norris, Did Standard & Poor's Make a Mistake by Removing WorldCom from the 500? New York Times (May 15, 2002) (available to New York Times subscribers)
• William Harding, Is the S&P 500 Actively Managed? Morningstaradvisor.com (May 30, 2002)
• Karen Damato, For Small-Cap Index Funds, The Devil's in the Benchmark, Wall Street Journal (May 31, 2002) (discussing whether Russell 2000 or S&P 600 will provide superior performance) (available to WSJ.com subscribers)

Worth Reading on the Internet

• Harvey L. Pitt, Remarks Before the Investment Company Institute General Membership Meeting (May 24, 2002)(general discussion of pending mutual fund-related issues, including conflicts between hedge funds and mutual funds and 12b-1 fees)
• FPA Applauds Merrill Lynch Settlement with New York; Requests SEC, States Move ‘Downstream’ in Investigation of Broker Conflicts, Financial Planning Association (May 22, 2002) (analogizing analysts' conflicts of interest to brokers' conflicts and reiterating FPA's opposition to the Merrill rule)
• Complaint, Walter B. Hewlett, et. al v. Hewlett-Packard Company, C.A. No. 19513-NC (Mar. 28 2002)
• Walter B. Hewlett, et. al v. Hewlett-Packard Company, C.A. No. 19513-NC (Del. Ct. Chancery Apr. 30, 2002)
• Baker Calls Spitzer’s Rules ‘Illegitimate, Unenforceable, and a Cause for Confusion,” Press Release, Office of U.S. Rep. Richard Baker (May 23, 2002) (arguing that Spitzer’s negotiated settlement with Merrill Lynch exceeds proper scope of his authority)
• Elizabeth M. Knoblock, Hedge Fund Conflicts (Feb. 4, 2002)(discussing conflicts of interest that arise in the management of hedge funds context)

Top

Fund Democracy Home

About Fund Democracy

Contact Fund Democracy

This page was last updated on May 30, 2002.