Fund Interactive Data Taxonomy

Investment Company Institute (ICI), the national association of the US investment company industry, recently released for public review the draft taxonomy that it has developed for "tagging" the data by using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in the risk/return summary that is at the front of every mutual fund prospectus.

This effort was undertaken with the strong encouragement of the SEC's Chairman, who has emphasized the potential of the internet and interactive technology as a means to better inform and educate investors.

ICI has developed an XBRL taxonomy that can be used to "tag" data in the risk/return summary that is included in the front of every mutual fund prospectus. The risk/return summary contains information that is important to an investment decision, including investment objectives and strategies, costs, risks, and historical performance information.

As indicated by ICI's research, fund buyers look primarily for information included in the risk/return summary before making a mutual fund purchase. XBRL tagging holds the potential to make risk/return summary data interactive by enabling investors or their advisers to easily search for, retrieve, and compare information on hundreds of mutual funds across multiple fund complexes.

In HK, there are also many funds available from a bank / adviser. The combined use of internet and XBRL tagging would make fund comparison and selection easier. SFC has set up in recent years the XBRL Preparatory Working Group. Has it included the fund interactive data taxonomy as one of its agenda?