Securities and Exchange Commission Requires Proxy Voting Policies, Disclosure by Investment Companies and Investment Advisers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2003-12

Washington, D.C., January 23, 2003 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to adopt rule amendments that would require mutual funds and other registered management investment companies to disclose their proxy voting policies and procedures and their actual proxy votes cast. These amendments are designed to enable fund shareholders to monitor their funds' involvement in the governance activities of portfolio companies and to encourage funds to vote their proxies in the best interest of fund shareholders. These rule amendments were adopted by a four-to-one vote of the Commission, with Commissioner Paul Atkins casting the dissenting vote.

The Commission also voted unanimously to adopt a new rule and rule amendments that would require registered investment advisers to adopt proxy voting policies and procedures, including procedures to address material conflicts of interest that may arise between the adviser and its clients. The rule and rule amendments are designed to ensure that advisers vote proxies in the best interest of their clients and provide clients with information about how their proxies are voted.

Investment Company Amendments

The amendments the Commission approved with respect to mutual funds and other registered management investment companies require the following.

Investment Adviser Amendments

The amendments that the Commission adopted with respect to investment advisers will require the following.

Investment advisers must have their proxy voting policies and procedures in place, and must have informed their clients of those policies and procedures, within 180 days of the publication of these rule amendments in the Federal Register.

The full text of detailed releases concerning each of these items will be posted to the SEC Web site as soon as possible.