Disclosure that best serves fund shareholders has long been a priority for the Institute. ICI's model for improved disclosure is firmly rooted in its research program and in the fund industry's long experience with investors and their preferences for obtaining and using information in making investment choices. More recently, the industry and the Institute have championed the use of the Internet to communicate with fund investors.
ICI believes mutual fund investors would receive better, more useful disclosure of the key information they need if regulators adopted something like the "quick-start guide" used by high-tech companies with their customers. A clear, concise document that highlights key information would better serve a fund buyer's needs than today's system, which relies upon sending each investor a fund's lengthy prospectus. Under the new system envisioned by ICI, fund prospectuses and additional disclosures would be available to investors on the Internet, or in paper form upon request.
The Institute has also consistently supported the SEC's ongoing efforts to improve the disclosure that investors receive, particularly its similarly strong interest in empowering investors through the use of the Internet. In support of the SEC's efforts, the Institute has played a major role in the agency's initiative relying on eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, to attach electronic "tags" to data in the risk-return summary included in fund prospectuses. This approach may eventually enable investors to search for and compare information on the performance, risks, and fees of dozens of funds with just a few keystrokes.
