The 13F filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provides investors an idea regarding the investment activities and list of the stockholdings by institutional investors/hedge fund managers such as Bill Ackman, George Soros, and John Paulson.
Brendan Conway of Barrons noted the comment of John Rakenthaler of Morningstar that Vanguard Group and the Investment Company Institute, the trade organization of the fund industry opposed the petition of the New York Stock Exchange Euronext (NYSE:NYX) to shorten the deadline for 13F filing from 45 days to 2 business days.
Vanguard Group Argued About The Publication Of The 13F Fillings
Vanguard Group and Investment Company Institute argued that the publication of the 13F filing with such a short lag would allow free riders to anticipate the trades made by large investment managers, and to profit from the information by front-running those trades.
Rakenthaler’s response to the objection reads, “When mutual funds were required to publish quarterly rather than semiannual reports, there were similar mutterings. No damage seems to have been done. More dramatically, PIMCO very gingerly releases its holdings for its flagship mutual fund, PIMCO Total Return (PTTRX), waiting until the final days of the permitted 60-day lag for mutual fund reports. Meanwhile, PIMCO continually publishes live and complete holdings for its ETF version of Total Return, PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) without apparent damage. PIMCO Total Return is out-legging both the index and competitors this year, and the ETF version is faring even better.”
In February, the NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) (EPA:NYX) together with the Society of Corporate Secretaries Governance Professionals (Society), and National Investors Relations Institute (NIRI) filed a petition to change the rules under section 13(F) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Act of 1934.
They requested the Commission to shorten the deadline for the 13F quarterly filing of institutional investors with at least $100,000,000 market value from 45 days to 2 business days. They cited that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act required the SEC to implement rules obligating investment managers to report their short sale activities publicly at least once a month.
The NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) (EPA:NYX)’s group believe that a “similarly substantial increase of the frequency of form 13F reporting” is beneficial investors and public companies.
