The Securities and Exchange Commission is launching an asset management advisory committee, the agency said Wednesday.
The committee may address topics including trends and developments affecting investors and market participants, the effects of globalization, and changes in the role of technology and service providers. The committee is composed of a group of outside professionals, including individuals representing the views of retail and institutional investors, small and large funds, intermediaries and other market participants, according to the SEC.
"Asset management is a critical component of our markets and is especially important to Main Street investors," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in a news release. "This committee will help the commission ensure that our regulatory approach to asset management meets the needs of retail investors and market participants at a time when the industry is evolving rapidly. I would like to thank each of the committee members for agreeing to participate on this important committee."
At an Investment Company Institute conference in March, Dalia Blass, director of the SEC's investment management division, said she was concerned "what it will mean for investors — particularly Main Street investors — if the variety and choice offered by small and midsized asset managers becomes lost in a wave of consolidation and fee compression."
Edward Bernard, senior adviser to T. Rowe Price, was appointed the initial committee chairman. The committee will be formally established Nov. 1 for an initial two-year term, which can be renewed by the commission.
The SEC said it will announce further details about the committee "in the near future."
