comment ltr - DOL interim rule - final

April 13, 2007 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Office of Exemption Determinations Employee Benefits Security Administration Room N-5700 U.S. Department of Labor Washington, DC 20210 Attention: Cross-Trading Policies and Procedures Interim Final Rule Ladies and Gentlemen: 1 The Investment Company Institute appreciates the opportunity to comment on behalf of its members on the Department’s interim final rule on cross trading policies and procedures, adopted under the statutory exemption for cross trading enacted in the Pension Protection Act (PPA). The Institute’s membership has a substantial interest in this exemption. Many Institute members manage separate accounts or collective funds that hold “plan assets” subject to ERISA fiduciary responsibility rules and that could benefit from the cross trading exemption. As the Institute has consistently described, investment management clients can obtain significant benefits from cross trading by saving commissions and other transaction costs. These benefits accrue to both the selling and purchasing accounts, since no broker is involved and the investment manager derives no separate fee or other benefit from a cross trade. In adding the cross trades exemption to ERISA, Congress recognized both that cross trades can be beneficial and that cross 2trading can be implemented in a manner that protects plans. Congress included in the ERISA 1 ...