Enabling Firms To Deliver The Summary Prospectus


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Sarbanes Oxley : Technology : Content Management

Enabling Firms To Deliver The Summary Prospectus

Russ Planitzer
CEO and Chairman
NewRiver

NewRiver, Inc., – creators of the leading central repository of mutual fund documents and data for financial services firms -- has announced that Prospectus Express 3.0 will meet the requirements of the new SEC Summary Prospectus Rule and be available as of the effective date of March 31, 2009. Prospectus Express will adhere to the SEC’s compliance requirements by enabling firms to deliver the Summary Prospectus in either print or electronic format, and by its ability to make the longer “statutory” prospectus available to investors within a mouse click via its patented layered disclosure capabilities. In fact, close to 70 of the top financial institutions in the United States currently use Prospectus Express, and all will be able to seamlessly migrate to version 3.0 to achieve all the benefits of the Summary Prospectus.

According to the rule, “This improved disclosure framework is intended to provide investors with information that is easier to use and more readily accessible, while retaining the comprehensive quality of the information that is available today. The foundation of the improved disclosure framework is the provision to all investors of streamlined and user-friendly information that is key to an investment decision.” Prospectus Express meets this need by providing firms with access to an online library of compliance documents such as prospectuses, supplements, semi-annual and annual reports, and statements of additional information for every open-end mutual fund, exchange traded fund, unit investment trust, variable annuity, and variable life product sold in the United States.

“The Summary Prospectus rule will greatly simplify disclosure by providing fund investors with a document that is not only easy to read but also to make ‘fund-to-fund’ comparisons,” said Peter Delano, Research Area Director, TowerGroup. “Investors will be able to easily access the information that is relevant to them while at the same time helping to reduce the costs and the paper associated with traditional print delivery —making a difference in today’s cost-conscious and eco-centric climate.”

A comprehensive investor-communications solution, Prospectus Express enables brokerage firms, individual variable annuity providers, retirement plan providers and mutual fund firms to deliver Web access to these documents at every phase of the investor life cycle in order to maintain compliance with the new Summary Prospectus rule. Prospectus Express 3.0 provides:

•    Flexible Delivery Options. Prospectus Express 3.0 enables Summary Prospectus delivery in either print or electronic formats with electronic consent from investors. It also enables fund companies to meet the SEC requirement that mandates that the Summary Prospectus be available online.
•    Layered Disclosure. Prospectus Express 3.0 includes “layered disclosure” or a set of detailed and multi-level hyperlinks in the 3-4 page Summary Prospectus that allows investors to quickly and easily access more detailed information found in the longer statutory prospectus online.
•    Savings. The industry spends $1 billion a year on printing and shipping fees for prospectus documents. In an electronic era where 95% of mutual fund shareholders have Internet access, and 73% of them use the Internet at least once a day, the reliance of paper-based compliance is wasteful and inconvenient. With Prospectus Express, the Summary Prospectus can be delivered cost effectively because investors may choose to receive them via an electronic or e-delivery format. Should the investor choose paper delivery, the cost can also be reduced given the lower page count and postal rates. According to Forrester Research, fund families would save up to $300 million per year -- a savings that could be passed on to investors.

“The good news for our clients is that they will be ready to implement the Summary Prospectus as soon as the fund companies start filing them,” states Russ Planitzer, CEO and Chairman of NewRiver, Inc. “In fact, our existing patents map directly to the Summary Prospectus ruling and solidifies our position as the leading provider of ‘best-in-class’ solutions for electronic compliance and intelligent document fulfillment.”

Prospectus Express is the industry's only Web-based SEC-compliant data warehouse providing investor access to an online library of compliance documents (prospectuses, supplements, semi-annual and annual reports, and statements of additional information) for every open-end mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, unit investment trust, variable annuity, and variable life product sold in the United States. A comprehensive investor-communications solution, Prospectus Express enables brokerage firms, individual variable annuity providers, and retirement plan providers to deliver Web access to these documents at every phase of the investor life cycle.

NewRiver develops innovative technology solutions that help financial leaders simplify investor disclosure - providing transparency and cost savings to the delivery of fund data and investor communications. Since 1995, the company has helped some of the world's leading financial organizations move from paper to electronic disclosure via an easy to use, cost-effective, managed service offering. NewRiver pioneered the first electronic prospectus, and is the only company to guarantee its data to be "compliance grade" which allows customers to reduce risk, lower compliance costs and increase revenues. Through a patent-pending, automated process NewRiver efficiently monitors 6 million data points from over 24,600 fund CUSIPs. Further, the company's unique "paperless" approach improves the investor experience while offering a real alternative to the environmental impact of paper-only delivery. Relied on daily by over 100 leading financial services firms, and millions of investors, NewRiver is a trusted and growing solution provider facilitating the transition from paper-based mutual fund information, to electronic.

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