The Securities and Exchange Commission has quietly granted mutual-fund companies a 90- day extension to deliver financial documents to clients in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.
The extension, retroactive to Aug. 29, applies to documents intended for investors in ZIP codes where mail delivery has been suspended.
The Gulf Coast’s disrupted mail service will have little impact on Colorado’s mutual-fund companies – although the effects elsewhere could be severe.
Janus Capital Management, the state’s largest mutual-fund manager, has received “no more than a handful” of calls from displaced clients seeking to have checks or statements sent to a new address, said spokeswoman Shelley Peterson.
“We don’t anticipate that we will have to use the extension … (but) it’s great that the SEC recognizes there could be difficulties,” Peterson said.
Jeremy May, managing director of Alps Mutual Fund Services, said that because “we don’t have a significant shareholder base in that area, it hasn’t been a big issue.”
The Investment Company Institute, a Washington, D.C.- based trade group that represents about 8,000 U.S. mutual funds, said the impact could be severe – particularly for companies in the South.
“It certainly is a problem,” said Chris Wloszczyna, an institute spokesman. “We are entering a window where we will see a lot of annual reports, (so) that is going to be a real problem.”
Direct-marketing mail has been suspended for a handful of ZIP codes, but delivery of Social Security and payroll checks and vital mail has continued in most areas, the Postal Service said.
The Postal Service has asked evacuees to file change-of-address forms, with more than 100,000 doing so as of Friday.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
