March 9, 2004
It seems to me self-evidently undesirable that there be any interlocking of fund companies with their investment advisers or with brokerages -- with any other business whose increased income would be at the expense of fund shareholders. I support the proposed rule with the simple objective of avoiding the above conflict, and increasing the ability of the fund board to assess the performance of advisers, brokerages,etc. used by the fund, and replacing any that under-perform. The existing situation at Fidelity Funds, for example, would seem to make the possibility of independent assessment of the Funds investment adviser to be zero.