The Collective Investment Trust (CIT) is gaining new steam, thanks to new retirement regulations. Starting in the second quarter of 2012, employer-sponsored plans will be subject to increased fee transparency. As a result, some plan sponsors will likely turn to CITs as lower-cost investment options.
CITs are similar to mutual funds, but they aren't regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and aren't required to provide things like prospectuses and monthly performance statistics. This lower level of regulation and the relatively small amount of CIT participants can make it hard to find out information on a particular CIT. However, the lower administrative, regulatory and marketing costs make CITs relatively inexpensive.
