Securities and Exchange Commission 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission is providing for additional public input in connection with its annual Government- Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, to be held Friday, September 29, 2006, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT, at its Washington, DC headquarters. The morning sessions of the Forum will be Webcast on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov. The public is invited to submit written statements in connection with the Forum. This year's Forum program will include two roundtable discussions in the morning. The first roundtable will discuss the advantages to smaller public companies of filing interactive data with the SEC. The second roundtable will discuss current issues in capital raising techniques for small business, such as the status of the IPO (initial public offering) market and PIPE (private investment in public equity) offerings. The Commission expects that the Forum will develop recommendations for government and private action to facilitate small business capital formation. The afternoon sessions of the Forum, which will not be Webcast, will be devoted to breakout sessions to develop recommendations. More information about the Forum is available at www.sec.gov/info/ smallbus/sbforum.shtml.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'' or ``SEC'') is adopting amendments to a rule under the Investment Company Act. The rule, among other things, requires most open-end investment companies (``funds'') to enter into agreements with intermediaries, such as broker-dealers, that hold shares on behalf of other investors in so called ``omnibus accounts.'' These agreements must provide funds access to information about transactions in these accounts to enable the funds to enforce restrictions on market timing and similar abusive transactions. The Commission is amending the rule to clarify the operation of the rule and reduce the number of intermediaries with which funds must negotiate shareholder information agreements. The amendments are designed to reduce the costs to funds (and fund shareholders) while still achieving the goals of the rulemaking.