Securities and Exchange Commission 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are proposing amendments to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth certain requirements for U.S. registrants subject to Section 111(e) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Section 111(e) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 requires companies that have received financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (``TARP'') to permit a separate shareholder advisory vote to approve the compensation of executives, as disclosed pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the Commission, during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided under the TARP remains outstanding. The proposed amendments are intended to help implement this requirement by specifying and clarifying it in the context of the federal proxy rules.

Summary of Application: Applicants request an order to permit a series of a registered open-end management investment company whose outstanding securities are owned exclusively by persons who are qualified purchasers, as defined in the Act, to operate as an extended payment fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'' or ``SEC'') is proposing amendments to certain rules that govern money market funds under the Investment Company Act. The amendments would: Tighten the risk-limiting conditions of rule 2a-7 by, among other things, requiring funds to maintain a portion of their portfolios in instruments that can be readily converted to cash, reducing the weighted average maturity of portfolio holdings, and limiting funds to investing in the highest quality portfolio securities; require money market funds to report their portfolio holdings monthly to the Commission; and permit a money market fund that has ``broken the buck'' (i.e., re-priced its securities below $1.00 per share) to suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of fund assets. In addition, the Commission is seeking comment on other potential changes in our regulation of money market funds, including whether money market funds should, like other types of mutual funds, effect shareholder transactions at the market-based net asset value, i.e., whether they should have ``floating'' rather than stabilized net asset values. The proposed amendments are designed to make money market funds more resilient to certain short-term market risks, and to provide greater protections for investors in a money market fund that is unable to maintain a stable net asset value per share.