Are 12b-1 fees about to change, or disappear? The Wall Street Journal's Jason Zweig outines the history of the mutual fund marketing and distribution fees and ponders what the SEC has in mind for them. (SEC chair Mary Schapiro previously declared that the agency "must critically rethink how 12b-1 fees are used and whether they continue to be appropriate."

Zweig compares 12b-1 fees to Frankenstein's monster (and the SEC to Dr. Frankenstein). He also argues that fees (including distribution and marketing ones) should not be set -- yet he never mentions the '40 Act and its requirement that all fund shareholders be treated equally (thus eliminating the possibility of negotiating mutual fund fees on a case-by-case basis).

ICI president Paul Schott Stevens, Morningstar managing director Don Phillips and Jeffrey Keil (of Keil Fiduciary Strategies) all weigh in on the subject. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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