(December 7 – 18:40 ET) – The Investment Funds Institute of Canada has published the work of its Fair Valuing Working Group in developing guidelines for the fair valuing of portfolio securities by investment funds and other pooled asset management vehicles.

IFIC is soliciting comment on its proposals by January 31, 2001. It intends to make the recommendations in the report into a voluntary, minimum industry standard.

The draft report sets out guidelines to assist funds in determining when it is appropriate to consider fair valuing certain securities (e.g. foreign market securities, illiquid securities, private company securities or securities subject to a halt trade or impacted by natural disasters or currency crises).

The guidelines suggest the processes and internal controls that funds should implement to fair value securities in these situations, although they do not recommend specific valuation methodologies. They also consider the governance issues that fair valuing practices raise.

IFIC says it formed the industry working group to develop guidelines for the fair valuing at the request of a number of its members who, due to increased participation in global markets, found themselves required to engage in fair value practices on a more frequent basis.

Dorothy Sanford of PricewaterhouseCoopers is the chair of the working group.
-IE Staff