Consumer groups are urging the Senate Banking Committee to not pass the Improving Disclosure for Investors Act of 2024, as it would make it "much harder for many investors to find and review important information on their investments, including the fees that they pay."
In a letter Thursday to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, groups including Better Markets and the Consumer Federation of America argue that S. 3815/H.R. 1807 — which passed the House in March after being added as an amendment to a Republican-authored bill known as the Expanding Access to Capital Act — "would override choices investors have already made."
Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Tom Tillis, R-N.C., introduced the legislation in late February, which requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to write a rule allowing financial firms to deliver their documents in digital format.
The bill, the consumer groups maintain, would open the door "for many investors to be pushed into a disclosure system that investors did not choose, depriving them of information in a format that works for them."
Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, the Investment Company Institute and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association have applauded the bill.
