Processing securities-related information

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for improving clarity of disclosure materials provided to investors, by enabling securities issuers, intermediaries and/or other entities to create and disseminate clear and concise summary-level information on individual securities to investors to enable informed investment decisions. The information may include a summary version of the full statutory prospectus (a “summary prospectus”). A summary prospectus may include a concise, “plain English” synopsis and/or representation of certain information contained in the full statutory prospectus, such as a security's investment objectives and strategies, costs, risks and/or other information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of processing a body of data representing a prospectus issued for at least one mutual fund, the method comprising:
 (A) locating, within the body of data, one or more data elements each having at least one attribute within a predefined set of attributes;   (B) inserting one or more markers into the body of data to indicate the presence of the data element(s) located in (A);   (C) using the marker(s) inserted in (B), generating a representation of the prospectus; and   (D) making the representation of the prospectus available for a recipient to access.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the representation of the prospectus is a summary prospectus. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the act (D) comprises making the summary prospectus available in hard copy and/or online form. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the act (D) comprises making the summary prospectus available in hard copy and online form, with the hard copy summary prospectus including a uniform resource locator (URL) at which the online summary prospectus may be accessed. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the act (D) comprises making the summary prospectus available in online form, the online summary prospectus comprising a plurality of sections each including at least one data element located in (A) and a link to detailed information regarding the at least one data element. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the link is to a location within the body of data representing the prospectus. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the body of data representing the prospectus comprises a table of contents, and wherein the location is proximate to the table of contents. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the body of data representing the prospectus comprises a portion which provides information regarding the at least one data element, and wherein the location is proximate to the portion. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein, subsequent to issuance of the prospectus for the at least one mutual fund, a more recent prospectus was issued for the at least one mutual fund, and wherein the link is to a location within a body of data representing the more recent prospectus. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein, subsequent to issuance of the prospectus for the at least one mutual fund, a more recent prospectus was issued for the at least one mutual fund, wherein the body of data representing the more recent prospectus comprises a table of contents, and wherein the link is to a location proximate to the table of contents. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more data elements is selected from a group of data elements for the at least one mutual fund consisting of an investment objective, a fee or expense, a principal investment strategy, a principal risk, an annual total return, an investment advisor, a portfolio manager, a rule relating to a purchase or sale, and information on payments to an intermediary. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act (C) comprises generating the representation of the prospectus to include the one or more data elements arranged in a predefined sequence. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the predefined sequence is established by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the acts (A)-(D) are performed automatically upon the body of data representing the prospectus being filed with the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) database by the issuer of the at least one mutual fund. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act (C) comprises generating a representation of the prospectus which includes one or more branding elements associated with an entity. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the entity is an issuer of the at least one mutual fund. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the entity is a broker-dealer. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (E) storing the representation of the prospectus in a repository.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the prospectus for the at least one mutual fund is one of a plurality of prospectuses issued for the at least one mutual fund over a period of time, and wherein the repository further stores a representation of each of the plurality of prospectuses. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 (F) making the representation of each of the plurality of prospectuses electronically accessible to a user.