On October 18th, the SEC voted to propose amendments to establish an expedited review procedure for applications under the Investment Company Act of 1940. These particular applications must be substantially identical to recent precedent. This is in addition to proposing a new informal procedure for applications that would not qualify for this expedited process. The changes are intended to make the application process more efficient as well as to provide additional certainty and transparency to the process. The SEC also intends that the staff of the Division of Investment Management will also begin publicly disseminating comments on applications and responses to those comments.

On June 5, 2018, the SEC voted to improve the experience of investors who invest in mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment funds by releasing the Investment Company Disclosure and Delivery Rulemaking Package. This package contains three separate but related releases that are part of a long-term project led by the Division of Investment Management to explore the modernization of the design, delivery, and content of fund disclosures.

On March 14th, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to the public liquidity-related disclosure requirements as they apply to certain open-end investment management companies. These amendments would replace a pending requirement that funds publicly provide the aggregate liquidity classification profile of their portfolios quarterly on Form N-PORT.

On August 31, 2017, the SEC named Jeffrey Harris as Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA). The Commission also named Dalia Blass as Director of the Division of Investment Management.