The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. is overhauling the Mutual Fund Profile Service, now that most fund companies are using the database for breakpoint information on their portfolios. DTCC initially revamped Profile as a result of recommendations of the Joint NASD/Industry Task Force on breakpoints after it was found that investors weren't always getting commission discounts to which they were entitled. Barbara Simon, v.p. of product management at DTCC, said Profile was not originally designed for breakpoints and was not developed to be user-friendly. Now, DTCC is overhauling Profile to make it easier for funds to input information into the database and to ensure that the data elements are all relevant. Simon said DTCC is finalizing a data dictionary that defines every field and the values that the fields can hold.

DTCC, in concert with the Investment Company Institute, eliminated many fields and added new ones, given that the original service was introduced about 10 years ago. Simon also said Profile's architecture is being revamped, eliminating funds' need to enter information for every individual CUSIP, or security number. For example, fund companies will be able to enter information, such as a redemption fee, for the specific portfolio and then that data will be automatically applied to all share classes of the funds. The revamped Profile is scheduled to be available in 2007.