The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that asset management giant Vanguard will pay $106.41 million to resolve charges of misleading retail investors about the tax consequences tied to some of the company’s retirement fund products.
Vanguard failed to adequately inform investors of the tax implications stemming from its 2020 decision to lower the minimum investment for its Institutional Target Retirement Funds (TRFs) from $100 million to $5 million, the SEC said in a Jan. 17 press release. This policy change led many retirement plan investors to shift from the more expensive Investor TRFs to the lower-cost Institutional TRFs, the SEC said.
As these investors redeemed their shares in the Investor TRFs, the funds were forced to sell underlying assets, many of which had appreciated in value due to rebounding markets, according to the SEC. This led to large capital gains distributions, which disproportionately affected retail investors holding the Investor TRFs in taxable accounts, who faced unexpected tax liabilities, it said.
The SEC found that Vanguard prospectuses failed to disclose the potential for increased capital gains distributions caused by these redemptions. The agency also determined that Vanguard lacked sufficient compliance measures to ensure accurate fund disclosures, in violation of the Advisers Act.
“Materially accurate information about capital gains and tax implications is critical to investors saving for their retirements,” said Corey Schuster, chief of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit. “Firms must ensure that they are accurately describing to investors the potential risks and consequences associated with their investments.” […]
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