The Mutual Fund Directors Forum (MFDF) is a non-profit organization serving independent

mutual fund A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV i ...

directors in the United States.

Overview

The MFDF was formed in 2002, growing out of the Mutual Fund Directors Education Council, a partnership between the

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC) and the mutual fund industry. The council was convened in 1999, in response to SEC chairman

Arthur Levitt Arthur Levitt Jr. (born February 3, 1931) is the former Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He served from 1993 to 2001 as the twenty-fifth and longest-serving chairman of the commission. Widely hailed as a c ...

's call for improved fund governance and better education of mutual fund directors. Although all persons in the mutual fund industry are able to participate in the Forum's events, actual membership in the Forum is restricted to independent directors or trustees of mutual funds. Today, the Forum's primary activities are the creation and production of educational programs, the publication of reports on

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...

guidance, and advocacy on behalf of its members. For example, in 2003, the Forum was asked by the then SEC Chairman

William H. Donaldson William Henry Donaldson (born June 2, 1931) was the 27th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), serving from February 2003 to June 2005. He served as Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs in the Nix ...

to prepare best practice guidance in key areas of director decision-making, such as monitoring fees and conflicts, overseeing compliance, and important issues such as valuation and pricing of fund portfolio securities and fund shares. In response to this request, the Forum published its "Report of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum on Best Practices and Practical Guidance for Mutual Fund Directors" in July 2004. The report was well received by the SEC. Frequently, members of the Forum's staff are consulted and quoted by the financial press in news stories concerning mutual fund directors and the mutual fund industry as a whole. In addition,

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

letters by Forum staff on topics important to the mutual fund industry have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and mutual fund industry publications. Significantly, in 2002, the Mutual Fund Directors Forum applied for and received an exemptive order from the SEC allowing the payment by mutual funds, pursuant to the authorization of their boards of directors, of the dues of their independent directors for membership in the Forum, as well as Forum-related expenses; and finding that these payments do not violate Section 17(d) and Rule 17d-1 of the ''Investment Company Act'' of 1940, which prohibit funds from participating in joint transactions with affiliated persons on a basis different from or less advantageous than that of any other participant.SEC
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Notes

References

# ttps://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/ts111803whd.htm Testimony of William H. Donaldson, Chairman, SEC Concerning Regulatory Reforms to Protect Our Nation's Mutual Fund Investors, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, November 18, 2003
"Report of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum on Best Practices and Practical Guidance for Mutual Fund Directors"
July 28, 2004.

July 28, 2004, "Chairman William H. Donaldson Thanks Mutual Fund Directors Forum for Its Best Practices Report".

File No. 132-3, pub. avail. May 9, 2002

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.mfdf.com Professional associations based in the United States