The Investment Counsel Association of America (ICAA) issued a statement today supporting the SEC’s move to analyze soft dollar fund issues, but strongly opposing an Investment Company Institute proposal to eliminate third-party research from soft dollar practices.

ICAA’s statement said that the elimination of soft dollar practices would reduce the overall research available to investors, drive up costs, unfairly advantage full-service brokerage firms and disadvantage third-party research providers.

It also said that elimination would decrease transparency. “Using soft dollar credits for third-party research is undeniably more transparent than “paying up” for proprietary research from full-service brokers bundled with execution services. Third-party research is separately identified, invoiced, and quantifiable. Proprietary research is not.”  

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