SEC to Seek Fee on Fast Fund Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to thwart trading abuses in the $7.4-trillion mutual fund industry, plans to propose that funds charge a mandatory redemption fee for short-term trading.

The SEC commissioners will vote Wednesday on a proposal requiring stock and bond funds to charge investors a 2% fee for sales of shares held for five business days or less, the agency said Wednesday.

Presumably, the fee would go back into a fund to benefit all shareholders.

The SEC said it also planned to seek public comment on other ways it could combat frequent trading, or market timing, which has been at the heart of the industry scandal that has raged since September.

The funds’ main trade group says it supports the idea of a mandatory redemption fee.