From the Editor...

It's been rumored for months, and on Thursday the news finally came out that David Grim would leave his position as director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management. We're keeping an ear out for news of where he'll go next and who will take his place, so watch this space. He was the last of the division directors appointed by former Chair Mary Jo White to leave the agency.

Meanwhile, in the boardroom at Matthews Asia Funds, the independent directors are continuing to focus on the domestic environment while also looking to markets abroad. Serving on the board of the San Francisco-based adviser means learning about, keeping up on, and traveling to Asia. We spoke with Chairman Jon Zeschin about how his board handles overseeing a fund family whose investments are on the other side of the world. It's great reading. 

We also took a look at the Touchstone-Sentinel merger to see how the directors overseeing the two advisors' funds will fare once the deal is done this fall. At least some market watchers expect merger & acquisition activity to stay strong as smaller fund families struggle for distribution and to grow assets. Let us know if you have specific questions about these mergers when they happen, and we'll do our best to try to get them answered. 

In the legal realm, one of the earliest of the current wave of 36(b) cases came to an end recently when an appeals court upheld the lower court's decision to dismiss the case. American Chemicals & Equipment 401(k) Retirement Plan v. Principal Management Corp. was a peculiar case, and the plaintiffs' only option now is to petition the U.S. Supreme Court. There are still several 36(b) cases making their way through the courts, but the filing of new cases has slowed significantly in the past year. We're continuing to follow the trend.

As always, we encourage you to check out our Viewpoints and Added Perspective sections when you're on our site. There are some great contributed pieces on fund governance-related topics and previously published content on topics that we think you'll find of interest. 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor