SEC Is Pushing Back Against New Wave of High-Leverage ETF Plans

The US Securities and Exchange Commission asked leveraged-ETF issuers not to move forward with a new wave of planned funds, using a rare group call Monday to renew its push against increasingly aggressive fund structures.

The agency’s Division of Investment Management made the ask during a brief call with independent trustees and fund counsel, according to six people familiar with the matter. The call lasted only a few minutes with no question-and-answer session, participants said. The message, they said, was to relay to issuers that they shouldn’t go effective — the step that activates a fund’s registration and clears it to launch — with their proposed products.