April 12, 2020
I am a retired individual investor.
Bottom line up front: Strongly recommend AGAINST approving the proposed rule
Primarily because, except for the single, unquantified, anecdotal fund failure referenced on page 17 of the proposed rule, there are no quantified benefits to the investing public. As there are stated estimated implementation costs to the fund providers, it would be reasonable to expect similar estimates of the benefits to investors in the form of avoided losses.
Otherwise the rationale for the proposed rule has to be questioned. The second order effects of implementing the rule would be fewer fund providers due to the costs of implementing the due diligence processes and record keeping or pushing investors to more risky, more speculative investment vehicles such as outright options plays and day trading. Neither of those is in the best interest of the investing public, the stated overarching intent of the proposed rule.
The risks of leveraged funds are well and widely known. The collection of investor information and account approval determination by fund providers is a privacy overreach which will not materially reduce the investment risks to individual investors since the financial position of the investor can rapidly change as soon as the data is collected.
Based on the above, it is strongly recommended against approving the proposed rule.