ICI Viewpoints
From December Outflows to January Inflows: Seasonal Factors in Mutual Fund Flows
As US and global stock markets churned in December, the press took note of ICI’s reports on outflows...
A Year of Advocacy: IDC’s 2018 Annual Review
IDC is well known for its education and outreach programs—and it’s not hard to see why. Year after...
Corporate and Investment Grade Bond Funds: What’s in a Name?
Financial stability concerns are being inflated by confusion over what the funds in question...
Even in Bear Markets, Equity Fund Investors Stay the Course
With the S&P 500 on a downward trajectory since early October, we've seen many headlines in the...
Debunking Assumptions About Bond Mutual Funds’ Flows and Bond Sales
Recent outflows from bond mutual funds have drawn press attention and revived concerns among...
Understanding Interest Rate Risk in Bond Funds
Long-term interest rates reached their lowest recorded levels in July 2016 and were on a steady...
Mutual Funds: Rated E for Everyone
Investing is subject to many misconceptions, including the notion that only wealthy households own...
ICI’s 2018 Annual Report: Letter from the President
A version of this letter by ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens was released in the Institute...
Common Ownership: "Puffery" in the Legal Analysis
Proponents of the common ownership hypothesis presume that the economic debate over the competitive...
Common Ownership: Ignoring the Age-Old Conflict Between Owners and Managers
In his first public remarks as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, Commissioner Noah Joshua...
Growing Better with Age: The 401(k) Turns Forty
This month marks the fortieth birthday of the most prevalent retirement plan available to workers...
Common Ownership: Faulty Assumptions on Investors’ ‘Economic Interests’
In a new paper, scholars Thomas A. Lambert and Michael E. Sykuta find that proponents of the common...
Funds and Proxy Voting: Funds Vote Thoughtfully and Independently
During the 2017 proxy voting season, registered investment companies—including mutual funds...
Funds and Proxy Voting: Who Submits Shareholder Proposals?
Any registered fund that holds companies' stocks in its portfolio has a duty to consider proxy...
Funds and Proxy Voting: The Mix of Proposals Matters
Proxy voting is in the news and on the minds of policymakers, corporate executives, and investors...
Fund Shareholders Have to Receive Reports. They Don’t Have to Pay So Much for Them
ICI has filed a comment letter calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to overhaul...
Improving Operational Efficiency for Interval Funds
Fund firms that offer interval funds—a type of closed-end fund that periodically offers to...
28 Trillion Smart Decisions
Have you ever done one small, smart thing that ended up making a huge difference in your future? I'm...
SEC Should Reject Complex, Costly “Pass-Through” Proxy Voting
Policymakers and regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have renewed their...
Fund Adviser Proxy Votes Align with Fund Interests
A key assertion in "Cracking the Proxy Racket" (The Wall Street Journal's Review & Outlook...
Stock Ownership in the United States: It’s Main Street
US household activity in the stock market has undergone a transformation over the past three decades...
“Common Ownership” Hypothesis Is Unconvincing
Economists and legal scholars have issued pointed critiques and empirical rebuttals of the "common...
IRA Investors Are Concentrated in Lower-Cost Mutual Funds
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) represent the largest share of assets in the US retirement...
How Mutual Funds Service and Protect Shareholders Affected by Disaster
Mutual fund shareholders were among the millions of people affected by the numerous natural...
IBM Expert Demystifies Artificial Intelligence, Touts Its Value for Asset Management
Forget what you’ve heard about artificial intelligence (AI), Tom Eck, chief technology officer for...
Young Leaders Reflect on Building a Better Business
Emerging leaders in the asset management industry are at the forefront of changes that will...
Meeting Investors’ Evolving Expectations—and Why Delivering Returns Is No Longer Enough
Serving investors is at the heart of asset management. Yet in today’s technology-driven world, in...
How Astronaut Jerry Linenger Found Strength, Perspective During His 132 Days in Space
Captain Jerry Linenger has been around the world more than a few times—literally. As a retired US...
Amy Herman Makes Order out of Chaos with the Art of Perception
Art might not be the first topic that comes to mind when discussing the mutual fund industry, but...
Artificial Intelligence Offers Opportunity for Funds and Investors
What's the future of the financial services workforce and artificial intelligence (AI)? Adam Broun...