BMI Releases Industry Barometer Survey Results for March 2023

After 51 years in print, Institutional Investor will scrap its paper edition and go digital-only after its April issue, the financial magazine announced this week. The decision comes as the result of “sustained and substantial growth in online reader traffic,” and increased demand among advertisers for digital marketing solutions, according to a statement. “Asset managers and allocators have an increased desire to consume content and market digitally, given the ease of access, efficient targeting, and generational change in the industry,” said Institutional Investor CEO Diane Alfano in the statement. “It’s exciting to watch the evolution of our business and the shift from print to community.” Click Read More below for additional information.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Proposed Rule 30e-3 in light of the agency’s recent hacking announcement. The rule would eliminate the current default requirement for financial companies to transmit information to their investors in paper form. “Government agencies have a responsibility to protect citizen’s right to choose how to receive information and services, particularly when it involves a person’s finances. The SEC’s own survey confirmed that the majority of investors prefer to receive financial information in printed form. Investors must be able to receive important financial documents easily and securely. Paper provides the broadest access to all investors, and therefore, should continue to be the default method of delivery.”

The American Catalog Mailers Association, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Taxation, seeking to declare unconstitutional a new state law that improperly expands the Department's jurisdiction beyond the state's borders in clear violation of existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The ACMA intends to demonstrate that Ohio’s software “cookie” nexus standard for sales/use tax is in direct contravention of the extraterritorial limits on state tax authority under Quill v. North Dakota. The state is claiming that the mere presence of electrons placed on an Ohio computer pierces the longstanding "physical presence" test under Quill and subjects remote sellers to sales tax collection and other compliance obligations. “This is an egregious assault on out of state companies seeking to sell to Ohio residents and effectively presents a barrier to interstate commerce that cannot be left unchallenged,” said ACMA President Hamilton Davison. “We have no doubt the Ohio judiciary, in light of the well-established national precedent created by the highest court in the land, will overturn this illegal new law.” ACMA has filed this action just before the law’s January 1, 2018 effective date. Click Read More below for additional information.