Issues Tied to MainStay Fund Concerns SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission has raised concerns about issues involving one of New York Life Investment Management’s MainStay mutual funds, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The SEC staff is concerned about a guarantee provided to shareholders of the MainStay Equity Index Fund, which is designed to track the performance of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the MainStay Funds family disclosed in a semiannual report to shareholders.

The agency’s concerns revolve around the index fund’s guarantee that “investors will be made whole should the value of their investment be below the original value” after 10 years, New York Life spokesman William Werfelman said. The investment’s original value includes sales charges and fees that shareholders paid on their initial investment.

MainStay said that the index fund and New York Life Investment Management, which is a unit of New York Life Insurance Co., were trying to resolve the SEC staff’s concerns.