The Securities and Exchange Commission

[thepennyking]

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda of
an open meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 14, at
which it will consider proposing several rules governing investment
companies. This meeting continues the series of meetings, which began on
December 3, with a focus on investment companies; an additional meeting is
expected to be held on February 11. The SEC announcement is below.
Although item 2 on the agenda refers only to "certain governance
practices," SEC Chairman William Donaldson said in a speech yesterday to the
Mutual Fund Directors Forum that the components of the fund governance
package will include requiring an independent chairman of the fund's
board of directors; increasing the percentage of independent directors from
a majority to three-fourths; providing independent directors with the
authority to retain staff as they deem necessary, so they are not
obligated to rely on the fund's adviser for assistance; and requiring boards
of directors to perform an annual self-evaluation of their
effectiveness, including consideration of the number of funds they oversee and the
board's committee structure. Chairman Donaldson's speech is available
online at

http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch010704whd.htm