From the Editor...

From a regulatory perspective, it's been a very quiet year so far following the administration change in the White House in January and the resulting change at the top of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chairman Jay Clayton is in place now, but it remains unclear how aggressive he'll be in creating new regulations. What's also unclear is how he views and will interact with the men and women who sit in the nation's mutual fund boardrooms. But that doesn't mean fund boards aren't dealing with regulation. The countdown is on to the implementation deadlines for the liquidity risk management rule, and boards should be up to speed with how the advisers they work with are preparing. To help fund directors, we've put together a 10 Things list of questions and issues to focus on at this stage in the process.

In the meantime, independent directors continue to deal with issues at hand—including ongoing litigation, succession planning, 15(c) preparation, and whatever else gets thrown their way. On the litigation front, cases related to the Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund were wrapped up earlier this month. And on succession, the rosters have changed up in the boardrooms of Vanguard Funds and Hartford Funds.

Boards looking for material that will help them in assessing profitability during 15(c) reviews may want to check out Management Practice Inc.'s latest study on industry profitability. And for a look into what's happening with the asset management industry—including fund governance—across the pond, we've provided a link to a market study released last month by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority. 

Finally, an independent fund director has written a moving piece on her "Miracle on the Hudson" experience. It's not a long read, but it is powerful. 

Thanks for reading Fund Board Views. We hope we're providing you with well-rounded and thorough coverage of the issues that are most important to your role in the fund governance industry—and we hope to do it in a way that supports the community of which we are all part. 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor