MFDF News Feed

May 21, 2026

This textbook, Performance Evaluation and Attribution is a helpful tool – albeit with a lot of dizzying math – for learning the basics and even developing fluency with the principles of fund performance. The authors are academics and industry practitioners and their objective, they write, is to distill academic and practitioner research papers into a unified framework.

May 20, 2026

While the SEC has stated that the liquidity fee would help prevent withdrawals and thereby protect the remaining shareholders, the lawsuit argues that the SEC did not conduct an adequate cost-benefit analysis and overstepped its authority under the Administrative Procedure Act.

May 19, 2026

The report notes that launching in the proper operating model “positions firms for long-term success by establishing key capabilities (e.g., services, partnerships, and data and technology) to grow the retail business, launch more offerings and expand into new distribution channels.”

May 18, 2026

This session will provide practical insight into the current AI landscape and what it means for compliance and operations teams planning their next move. The program will present a data-driven view of AI adoption today, along with a forward-looking discussion on the shift toward agentic models.

May 14, 2026

Each spring MPI releases its "Survey of Mutual Fund Director/Trustee Compensation and Organizational Practices", which provides aggregate compensation data received through confidential questionnaires, as well as SEC filings submitted by all fund industry complexes. This webinar will provide highlights from the most recent survey.

May 13, 2026

On April 30, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Promoting Retirement-Savings Access for American Workers by Establishing TrumpIRA.gov” which would require the Department of Treasury to establish a website to provide individuals with access.

May 12, 2026

Natasha Vij Greiner and Gretchen Passe Roin, partners at WilmerHale, will discuss the DOL's March 2026 proposed rule titled "Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives" and walk through the rule's process-based safe harbor framework — and what its six-factor analysis means in practice — before turning to the questions most relevant to registered fund boards.

May 11, 2026

The report reflects the evolving nature of the industry’s claims landscape, with increasing focus on governance processes, operational resiliency, vendor oversight, cybersecurity preparedness and documentation practices. These themes will also be explored during MFDF’s upcoming webinar, “Update on Fund Industry Claims Trends: An Insurer’s Perspective” on Wednesday, May 13.

May 7, 2026

Chair Atkins highlighted the Commission’s focus on private credit, including elevated redemption requests and default rate projections. He stated, “opacity in this space can be an issue,” adding that valuation, transparency, and credit quality are key for investors to understand, as well as the higher fees that follow this asset class.

May 6, 2026

John Mulligan and Julia Ulstrup of ICI Mutual will provide historical context, discuss current fund industry claims, and offer observations on the state of the market for directors and officers/errors and omissions and independent director liability insurance for funds and fund independent directors.

May 5, 2026

This relief will enable different funds or accounts to invest side-by-side in private deals historically not available to open-end funds. The no-action relief effectively authorizes open-end funds to participate, subject to their 15% liquidity restrictions, in co-investment transactions for the first time.

May 4, 2026

This program, part one of the MFDF’s virtual series on board oversight of alternative investments, will dive into the various types of registered product structures and key areas of focus for fund directors. Nathan Briggs and Debra Sutter, partners at Simpson Thacher; Kimberly Flynn of XA Investments, and Derek Mullins of Pine Advisor Solutions will delve into each of these product structures and highlight trends and potential challenges for fund boards.

April 30, 2026

The guidance proposes an activities-based approach to designation which includes risks arising from particular activities such as using derivatives, short-term funding reliance, or excessive leverage. The proposal also would require a cost-benefit analysis prior to designation including “the likelihood of the company’s material financial distress as part of its analysis of potential benefits and costs of a designation.”

April 29, 2026

While not a checklist for fund directors specifically, the list provides insight into the core components of a valuation framework. Items include governance policies, model validation, consistency in methodology, audit readiness, independent valuation testing, and other key factors.

April 28, 2026

The podcast will provide “stakeholders and the investing public with exclusive interviews and insights around the agency’s policy and rulemaking agenda.” In the first episode, Chair Atkins sat down with Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda to discuss the Commission’s mission and priorities.

April 27, 2026

In his testimony, Warsh noted “Central bankers must be strong enough to listen to a diversity of views from all corners, humble enough to be open-minded to new ideas and new economic developments, wise enough to translate imperfect data into meaningful insight, and dedicated enough to make judgments faithfully and wisely.”

April 23, 2026

The session will give board members a clear, actionable overview of the structural changes underway, including how tokenization, digital‑market infrastructure, and AI‑enabled trading are redefining investor behavior and market risk.

April 22, 2026

As part of this filing, TSEX asked the SEC to approve listing standards similar to that of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) BZE Exchange. In addition, TSEX’s proposal would remove the annual shareholder meeting requirement for closed-end funds.

April 21, 2026

The report is an update from our 2009 white paper and covers the significant changes in regulation and the industry that have occurred since. While the bedrock legal framework and governance principles of board oversight of subadvisers have not changed, challenges for fund boards lurk in the regulatory requirements of the last decade (e.g, Liquidity, Valuation and Derivatives Rules), growing investor demand for complex new products, and evolving risk management issues around cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

April 20, 2026

The Division reported 456 total enforcement actions, the lowest number in over 20 years, and approximately $17.9 billion in monetary relief. Unlike prior reports, the FY2025 report noted that 1095 matters had been closed without enforcement action, consistent with SEC Chairman Atkins statement in the report that the SEC had “put a stop to regulation by enforcement and recentered its enforcement program on the Commission’s core mission by prioritizing cases that provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity.”