What, if anything, will the SEC decide to do about 12b-1 fees? It looks like the regulatory agency won't be returning to the issue of the mutual fund until July at the earliest. Last week SEC commissioner Elisse Walter spoke on the subject last week at the Mutual Fund Directors Forum conference and noted that the agency will resume work on 12b-1 fees after completing most of its work related to the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, much of which has to be done by the one-year anniversary of the law on July 21.

Bloomberg and and Dow Jones both reported on the news.

The agency first proposed various 12b-1 reforms last summer, and that proposal would both reduce and rename 12b-1s. Walter said the SEC would bring its "full force" to bear on the reform of 12b-1 fees, which are used to pay brokers, retirement plan recordkeepers and other mutual fund intermediaries. Walter worries that 12b-1 "immediately sounds to an investor like something I don't understand," Dow Jones reports.

"The fees need to be set in a manner that's fair," Walter told reporters. "It's very difficult for investors to understand what they're paying and when." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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