Mutual funds may be the first sector of the financial services industry to use extensible business reporting language, according to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox. Speaking to a securities-lawyers conference, Cox, said, "Since mutual funds are the investments of choice for retail investors, that's where we hope to see interactive data make its first splash."
 
Cox, an early champion and promoter of the reporting scheme, told the audience that the push for XBRL into mutual funds was a first step toward "a much-needed overhaul of the way we ask firms to provide mutual funds information that we require to be delivered to investors and the timing of that disclosure."
In a related development, Cox has already offered quicker registration review to public companies participating in a pilot XBRL program, which is open to registrants until March 10.