Paul Roye is interested in slimming down prospectus to just a handful of pages. The head of the SEC's Investment Management Division told fund directors last week that that making the documents less hefty could be one way of improving them. One possible way of removing the heft would be for detailed information to be moved to the statement of additional information from the prospectus.

Roye told the paper that the SEC would consider the changes and that prospectuses could be whittled down to two to four pages as a result.

"The documents are too long, people don't read 'em," said Roye. He also noted the investors should be able to find SAIs on fund firm's Web sites.

The effort could come in the second half of this year. Last week Roye also said that he is resigning from the SEC in a few weeks to work in the private sector.

Speaking for himself, Roye said that he believes performance, fees, the funds investments and its key risk is the elemental information for investors.

"If you want to dig further, that information will be available," said Roye in his speech to the Mutual Fund Directors Forum. He added that the SEC would likely use focus groups to find ways to change the documents and improve disclosure.  

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE