A rule to permit fund firms to appoint subadvisors without shareholder approval could be adopted next week by the Securities and Exchange Commission. There will be a big public meeting of the SEC on Dec. 13 to clean up priority agenda items before the holiday season. Sources said this week that the agenda for the meeting could be expanded by adding the manager of managers rule that the industry has been seeking for three years.

Other SEC projects that the industry has been expecting to see will likely wait until 2007. On the list are executive compensation, fair valuation guidance, a reproposing of Form ADV Part II for investment advisor registration, soft dollar disclosure, point of sale disclosure and a proposed codification of rules for engaging in exchange-traded funds, among others. An SEC spokesman said none of these items was on the Commission calendar.

The SEC will have an open, rule-making meeting today as well as on Dec. 13. Among today's items is Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which governs when shareholders may offer proposals at annual meetings. This proposal would affect closed-end funds, which have annual meetings, and a few open ended funds.