MutualFundWire.com: Former Morgan Keegan Directors Settle with SEC on Bad Behavior
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Friday, June 14, 2013
Former Morgan Keegan Directors Settle with SEC on Bad Behavior
Companies die, but scandals live on. So it goes with Morgan Keegan.
Eight former mutual fund directors have settled federal claims that they allowed others at the firm to set values for subprime mortgage securities that were held by funds on which investors lost roughly $1.5 billion, the Washington Post reports.
The SEC declared that Morgan Keegan funds arent paying any penalty under the settlement, and back in December, brought an enforcement action against the directors, claiming they delegated the duty to fund managers, when it's clearly the directors' job to set values when market prices aren't available (you can read about that here).
The directors failed to make a diligent effort to learn how the values were determined, the SEC had alleged, and though directors have neither fessed up to nor denied wrongdoing they have agreed to refrain from future violations of the securities lawsa gesture that rather reeks of admitted bad behavior.
For more, read the Washington Post story here.
Company Press Release
Former Mutual Fund Directors Agree to Settle Claims That They Failed to Properly Oversee Asset Valuation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?2013-111
Washington, D.C., June 13, 2013 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a settlement in an enforcement proceeding against eight former directors of five Regions Morgan Keegan open- and closed-end funds that were heavily invested in securities backed by subprime mortgages. The proceeding, which began in December 2012, alleged that the directors failed to satisfy their pricing responsibilities under the federal securities laws.
Under the securities laws, fund directors are responsible for determining the fair value of portfolio securities for which market quotations are not readily available. In addition, fund directors must determine the methodologies to be used to fair value securities and must periodically reevaluate the appropriateness of those methodologies. The Commission made clear in Accounting Series Release No. 118 (Dec. 23, 1970) and In the Matter of Seaboard Associates Inc., Investment Company Act Release No. 13890 (April 16, 1984) that while fund directors may engage others to assist them to calculate fair values of these securities, they continue to be ultimately responsible to determine fair value in good faith.
The settled order finds that the eight directors failed to satisfy these responsibilities. Specifically, the directors delegated their fair valuation responsibility to a valuation committee without providing adequate substantive guidance on how fair valuation determinations should be made. The directors then made no meaningful effort to learn how fair values were being determined. They received only limited information about the factors involved with the funds' fair value determinations, and obtained almost no information explaining why particular fair values were assigned to portfolio securities. The limited information provided to the directors was particularly problematic because fair valued securities comprised a significant percentage of the funds' net asset values (NAVs) - in most cases above 60 percent.
The settled order finds that the valuation committee to whom the directors delegated the fair valuation responsibilities did not utilize reasonable procedures and often allowed the portfolio manager to arbitrarily set values. As a result, the settled order finds that the funds overstated the value of their securities as the housing market was on the brink of financial crisis in 2007. The SEC and other regulators previously charged Morgan Keegan and others, and the firms later agreed to pay $200 million to settle charges related to that conduct.
"Our settlement sends a clear warning of our commitment to enforce the duty of mutual fund directors and trustees to closely oversee the process of valuing securities held by their funds," said George S. Canellos, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
The eight fund directors named are:
J. Kenneth Alderman of Birmingham, Ala.
Jack R. Blair of Germantown, Tenn.
Albert C. Johnson of Hoover, Ala.
James Stillman R. McFadden of Germantown
Allen B. Morgan Jr. of Memphis
W. Randall Pittman of Birmingham
Mary S. Stone of Birmingham
Archie W. Willis III of Memphis
The open and closed end funds involved were the RMK High Income Fund, RMK Multi-Sector High Income Fund, RMK Strategic Income Fund, RMK Advantage Income Fund, and Morgan Keegan Select Fund.
The settled order finds that the directors caused the funds' violations of Rule 38a-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which requires funds to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the federal securities laws. The directors are also ordered to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of that rule. The directors consented to the entry of the settled order without admitting or denying any of the findings, except as to jurisdiction.
The litigation was conducted by members of the SEC's Atlanta Regional Office. The investigation was conducted by that office and the Asset Management Unit.
Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=44300
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