Mutual Fund News: An Alternative Solution to the “the hard 4” deadline

“Fidelity Seeks a Clearinghouse for Trades“: the New York Times reports. The article discusses “the hard 4” deadline which is being proposed by the SEC to prevent late trading and how this “could hurt the millions of Americans who invest through 401(k) plans that rely on intermediaries to submit orders.” The article notes how Fidelity Investments and the National Securities Clearing Corporation “are leading an effort to transform an existing fund-order processing service at the clearing corporation into the kind of time-stamped “lockbox” that would give fund middlemen more time to process orders while assuring that no late orders could be taken that would satisfy regulators and industry executives without penalizing investors.” According to the article, the solution has received a “little-noticed nod from the Securities and Exchange Commission.”