Canadian securities regulators are seeking more than 10 years of monthly sales data from mutual fund managers as they aim to answer questions about how funds’ fee structures impact sales.
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) put out a data request to fund managers Monday, as part of the original research commissioned earlier this year by the CSA to assess the impact of commissions and embedded fees on mutual fund flows. That research is being carried out by finance professor Douglas Cumming from the Schulich School of Business, York University.
In a letter to the fund companies, Bill Rice CSA chairman, asks firms to supply data by Jan. 16, 2015.
The request notes that participation in the research is voluntary, and that companies can withdraw from the study at any time. It also pledges that the regulators will not have access to the data, and that it will be destroyed after a year.
The request asks for monthly data for all open-end investment funds that were offered under a simplified prospectus between Jan. 1, 2003 and Oct. 31, 2014, including funds that were liquidated or merged. Among other things, it is seeking fund fee information, flow data, and performance information.
The results of the research are expected to be publicly released in the first quarter of 2015. Regulators are seeking to answer questions about the possible influence of fee structures on fund sales as part of a project begun back in 2012 amid a number of investor protection worries associated with existing industry fee structures. To resolve those concerns, the CSA is considering everything from possibly banning trailer fees to requiring dealers to provide minimum service levels in exchange for trailers.