SEC Close to Making Decision About Dual-Share-Class Funds

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is getting closer to making a decision about whether asset managers can offer ETFs as share classes of mutual funds, according to Kaitlin Bottock, assistant director at the regulator’s division of investment management.

Every major fund firm, including BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., is waiting for the SEC’s greenlight on the matter. They had filed for exemptive relief after Vanguard Group’s exclusive patent on the novel fund design expired two years ago.

“We are finalizing our process,” Bottock said on Wednesday at an Investment Company Institute event in Nashville. “We’re at ...