Investment Company Compliance

Now more than ever, financial services professionals are facing the challenges of navigating the complexities and pace of SEC regulatory changes impacting required disclosure, filings and shareholder communications.

With more than 55 years of regulatory compliance expertise, supported by industry specific technology driven solutions and adherence to client required style, Toppan Merrill is uniquely qualified to meet your compliance needs. We are the partner with the iXBRL and EDGAR regulatory expertise, who know precisely what it takes in those critical moments to stay ahead of ever-changing SEC disclosure requirements and keep you in compliance.

Blue, red and orange circles

Navigate Tailored Shareholder Reports with ease

Tailored Shareholder Reports workflow - Toppan Merrill

Import and mapping

  • Automated ingestion and mapping of content and data from multiple sources

Content management

  • Efficient management of shared and variable content to create required outputs
  • Consultation and design services for visual engagement
  • Integrated ADA compliance services

SEC filing

  • Accurately generate SEC compliant EDGAR and iXBRL for SEC filing

Print and distribution

  • Print, distribution, e-delivery and mailing services
  • Website TSR share class hosting

Beginning July 2024, all mutual funds and ETF’s filing under Form N-1A will be mandated by the SEC to produce a new, 4-page Tailored Shareholder Report (TSR) designed to increase transparency of fund performance for shareholders. The rule specifies the following required disclosure:

  • Legend stating website availability
  • Expense example
  • Management’s discussion of fund performance
  • Fund statistics
  • Graphical representation of holdings
  • Material fund changes
  • Changes in and disagreements with accountants
  • Availability of additional information
  • Disclosure to revoke householding (optional)
Blue, red and orange circles

Effectively Manage Your Prospectus Disclosure
Requirements

Managing SEC disclosure for Mutual and Closed-End funds and Annuity and Life products coupled with required deadlines is an ongoing challenge even for seasoned compliance professionals.

Our ’40-Act service and operations teams manage your SEC required disclosures for annual prospectus updates or new product launches. This includes integrated technology solutions to manage content and variable data, EDGAR, iXBRL tagging, web hosting, ADA compliance, print and distribution.

Toppan Merrill gives you the flexibility to work either through our self-provisioning SaaS model or lean on our full-service document composition experts to create the prospectus and make content changes.

Create

  • Client required style and SEC compliant outputs (including EDGAR and iXBRL) through self-provisioning technology or traditional workflows.
  • Automated document creation, including static, shared and variable content management
  • Integrated ADA compliance services
  • Content for website hosting

File

  • SEC compliant EDGAR and iXBRL filing package assembly, submission and validation.

Distribute

  • Print, distribution, e-delivery and mailing services
  • Compliant website hosting services

For over 55 years, companies have relied on the experience and expertise of the Toppan Merrill team.

100 Net Promoter Score
93% Customer retention
99.998% EDGAR filing accuracy rate

On The Dot

Regulatory disclosure and compliant communications – direct from the experts.

Cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance and incident disclosure

Episode 1 – A conversation with Jennifer Froberg, Senior SEC Product Specialist, about the new cybersecurity disclosure requirements for domestic and foreign issuers.

Updated: September 20, 2023

Updates and Insights

Black and white photo of a person in a suit standing and smiling at the camera
“As always, the Toppan Merrill team provided excellent service for these prospectus filings – kudos to Marisa and Dave for their quick turnaround and patience as we worked through the new iXBRL filing process.”
Senior Associate Counsel, Life Insurance Corporation

Contact our team to get started.

Whether you are in the exploratory phases or ready to move, we are ready to learn about your needs and find the right solution.

Phone

Related Solutions

Regulated Communications

Managing the complexities of post-sale regulated communications to shareholders, policyholders and plan participants is a challenge for financial services companies….

Marketing Fulfillment Solutions

Efficiently managing complex sales enablement activities to support various distribution channels is mission critical for financial services sales and marketing…

Content Control

Inefficient management of shared content and variable data across multiple documents is cumbersome and time consuming. Add in the challenges…

Have more questions?

Reduce complexity and get answers to some of our customers’ frequently asked questions.

See the full list of FAQs
What is a tailored shareholder report?

A tailored shareholder report is a new requirement for investment companies filing under the Securities Act of 1940. Mandated by the SEC in January 2023 and beginning July 2024, all mutual funds and ETFs filing under Form N-1A will be required to produce a new, 4-page tailored shareholder report designed to increase transparency of fund performance for shareholders. The tailored shareholder report must be tailored to each investor class, featuring variable information related to that investor share class. The report will also require iXBRL tagging. These reports must be mailed to investors, with additional information available online and in paper format upon request. For support and additional information, explore our investment company compliance solutions.

What is the Securities Act of 1940?

The Securities Act of 1940 is a law passed by Congress and administered by the SEC to regulate and prevent fraudulent conduct by money managers, investment consultants and financial planners. These various investment advisers are required to operate against a code of conduct set forth under the Act to ensure that all conflicts of interest between them and their clients are eliminated. The Act subjects advisers to five kinds of requirements: fiduciary duties to clients; substantive prohibitions and requirements; contractual requirements; record-keeping requirements; and oversight and inspection by the SEC.

Amendments to the Act require investment advisers with more than $25 million under management to register with the SEC. The Act also delineates investment advisers’ liability while giving structure around what fees and commissions advisers can collect from their clients.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929, which precipitated the Great Depression, was the impetus for the creation of the Securities Act of 1940. More specifically, the SEC published a report on investment trusts and investment companies in 1935 that warned against giving certain investment advisers free reign. The report recommended they be monitored and regulated to guard against the dispensing of advice that favors, whether consciously or not, the advisers’ own financial interests.

Investment advisers must file Form ADV electronically with the SEC via IARD (the Investment Adviser Registration Depository) and state securities authorities on an annual basis. On Part 1 of this form, investments advisers are required to include their educational background, experience, exact type of business they’re engaged in, assets, information on clients, history of a legal and/or criminal nature, and type of investment advice they offer. Part 2 of Form ADV comprises the narrative brochure that advisers must share with their clients. When filed, Form ADV is made available to the public on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website. For support and additional information, explore our investment company compliance solutions.

What is SEC Rule 498A?

The SEC adopted Rule 498A with the intention to modernize disclosure requirements and allow investors to make informed decisions about variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts. Rule 498A provides regulations related to the access to more detailed information available online, with the ability to request additional materials either electronically or in paper format. For support and additional information, explore our investment company compliance solutions.

What is SEC Rule 30e-3?

Rule 30e-3 was adopted by the SEC to allow certain funds the option of making their reports and materials to shareholders available online instead of delivering the full report. SEC Rule 30e-3 also considers the preferences of investors and their preferred method of receiving communications, whether that be continuing to get paper reports or be notified when the reports are available online. Rule 30e-3 outlines that if certain standards are met, it is considered that the fund company has fulfilled their delivery of the shareholder report to investors. For support and additional information, explore our investment company compliance solutions.