WASHINGTON The Investment Company Institute wants the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to give 529 college savings plan underwriters another extension before they have to file their first data submissions under a recently adopted rule.
The MSRB already gave underwriters a 60-day extension in June, changing the due date for submissions from 60 days after June 30 to 60 days after October 28. Lynnette Kelly, MSRB executive director, said at the time, the extension was granted to help ease the initial burden on industry participants and make sure the information provided is complete and accurate.
MSRB Rule G-45 requires underwriters for 529 plans to submit information like descriptions, assets, contributions, withdrawals, and fee and cost structures to the MSRB semi-annually, as well as performance data annually. The information can either be filed through the MSRB's EMMA system or a computer-to-computer interface the MSRB launched for beta testing last February.
ICI associate general counsel Tamara Salmon said in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission that ICI supported the MSRB's recent extension, but still believes it is "insufficient to provide MSRB registrants with adequate time to comply with Rule G-45." Instead, Salmon said the compliance date should be pushed to February 2016, which would be one year after the MSRB released its Form G-45 Manual outlining the procedures for underwriters to report their data.
ICI's letter was one of two filed with the SEC in response to a request for comment on the proposed extension. The other letter, from College Savings Foundation chair Mary Morris, endorsed the comments in the ICI letter.
Salmon used the comment letter to reiterate a concern, echoing other market groups like the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, that underwriters have not been not given sufficient information about filing procedures until the MSRB released the Form G-45 Manual. Less than a year between seeing the manual and having to submit data does not give the filers adequate time to prepare, specifically if they want to develop the computer-to-computer submission capability, she said.
"Providing filers insufficient time to build compatible filing systems seems both unfair and counterproductive to the MSRB's goal of obtaining reliable information," Salmon said.
ICI also told the SEC that the MSRB needs to provide more detailed instructions to filers on proper procedures for the disclosures. The Form G-45 Manual was supposed to contain specifications for the reporting of information, the user guide for submitting the form, and other information relevant to reporting under the rule, according to the letter. Salmon said the manual actually appears "to be limited to simplistic user data entry instructions and filing specifications" and leaves the "technical and substantive information" filers need in five separate documents that make it hard to piece together a comprehensive submission framework.
She asked the SEC to work with the MSRB to "ensure that filers' implementation of Rule G-45 is not unduly burdened or adversely impacted" by the MSRB's lack of both time and specific instructions the self-regulator gave to filers.
