Congress is one vote away from passing a measure that would make it easier for brokers and dealers to publish research reports about increasingly popular exchange-traded funds.

After failing in 2015 and 2016, the Fair Access to Investment Research Act this year passed the House by an overwhelming margin and easily cleared a Senate committee. Senate approval is all that's needed to send the bill to President Donald Trump.

The bill is strongly supported by the financial sector and opposed by some consumer advocates, who say it could expose investors to misleading research reports that downplay the risks of ETFs. Supporters say it would open the door for investors to get more information about ETFs by lifting restrictions that have discouraged broker-dealers from publishing research reports.

ETFs have soared in popularity since they were introduced in 1993, growing from about 100 funds with $100 billion in assets to over 6,000 worldwide funds with almost $3 trillion in assets, according to a House report. ETFs are securities, traded like common stocks on an exchange, that include a basket of assets such as stocks and bonds. ETFs track an index and are designed for individual investors.

Research reports about ETFs are not covered by “safe harbors” that the Securities and Exchange Commission has implemented for research issued in support of other asset classes, including listed equities, corporate debt and closed-end funds, the House report says.

That’s resulted in a “lack of available research that could greatly benefit consumers,” said Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican and former financial advisor who sponsored the House version of the bill. Hill said in a statement that his measure would provide a “simple and common sense fix” by providing a safe harbor to ETF research reports to encourage their publication.

The House passed Hill’s measure by a 405-2 vote in May. A companion bill sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, passed the Senate banking committee in March on a voice vote and now goes to the full Senate, where it stalled last year.

The measure is supported by the Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association, which represents broker-dealers, banks and asset managers, and by the Investment Company Institute, which represents regulated funds. The bill will “remove barriers and allow important broker research on ETFs to proliferate,” the institute said after the House vote.

Americans for Financial Reform has opposed the bill, saying it would “create major new exemptions” that would let ETF sponsors publish research aimed at promoting their funds without facing legal liability for “misleading content.”

“Past experience shows that misleading research reports can be used as a tool of market manipulation,” the organization wrote in a letter to Congress. “During the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, stock analysts at numerous investment banks contributed to highly inflated valuations for internet stocks by issuing ‘research reports’ that touted unlimited growth prospects for these securities.”

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