From the Editor...

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday extended, by six months, the compliance dates for the Names Rule. Fund groups with $1 billion or more in net assets now must be in compliance by June 11, 2026, and those with less than $1 billion in net assets must comply by Dec. 11, 2026. "In addition, the Commission is modifying the operation of the compliance dates to allow for compliance based on the timing of certain annual disclosure and reporting obligations that are tied to the fund’s fiscal year-end," the SEC stated. The changes somewhat satisfy requests from the Investment Company Institute, which wrote to the SEC in December calling for the compliance dates to be moved by at least 18 months and be tied to a fund's fiscal year-end. Many fund groups and boards are well into the work required to come into compliance at this point, so this gives them a bit more time—but not as much as ICI asked for. 

We're out in San Diego at ICI's 2025 Investment Management Conference, and we expect to hear some reactions to the SEC's move. We'll be listening for that and more in the conference sessions—particularly when Division of Investment Management Director Natasha Vij Greiner addresses attendees this afternoon—and talking to folks on the ground. Stay tuned for how the market is receiving the news of the additional six months.

In other news, we spoke to the board chair and CCO involved in U.S. Bank Global Fund Services' new multiple-series trust-like product, the CEF Accelerator Platform. They discussed how the all-independent board was put together and what the four new directors have been up to over the past six months or so. We honored International Women's Day with a list of 10 women who chair Audit Committees; they're pretty impressive, so have a look at that. We reported exclusively on the next chair of Mutual Fund Directors Forum's board, a transition that will take place at the start of 2026 after current Chair Buddy Donohue retires from the role. We also wote about some governance changes affecting the Putnam Funds board, a Franklin funds board, and four closed-end funds.

And finally, we've published the second installment of Buddy Donohue's five-part series on conflicts of interest. This latest article is an informative and relevant look at potential conflicts involving broker-dealers. We'll run the third article in the series soon, so keep your eye out.

For now, 

Hillary Jackson, founding editor