Financial CHOICE Act Passes in House; Amendment Targets Registration Process for Closed-End Funds

The U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Financial CHOICE Act, which contains provisions to overturn major areas of the Dodd-Frank Act and the DOL Fiduciary Rule. The CHOICE Act is not expected to advance further, as the Senate is considering its own financial sector deregulation initiatives. Lawmakers have proposed several amendments to the CHOICE Act, including an amendment seeking to streamline the registration and share-offering process for closed-end funds and to make the offering process more similar to that of public companies. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are floating other proposals aimed at the financial services sector, including bills that would allow all money market funds to elect to use the stable net asset value, despite the recent amendments to Rule 2a-7 that sparked substantial reforms, and would eliminate the mandatory liquidity fee requirement for funds that elect to use the stable net asset value.