Donna Milrod: Hello, I'm Donna Milrod, our Chief Product Officer here at State Street Corporation. And I'm pleased and delighted to be here with Carol Geremia. She's the President of MFS Investment Management and the Head of Global Distribution. And we're here to celebrate a very special anniversary. It's the 100 year anniversary of the first U.S. open ended mutual fund. MFS, of course, was the first firm to launch that fund. And State Street was right there with you as your custodian on that fund. So welcome, Carol.

Carol Geremia: I'm so delighted to be here and we're excited about celebrating 100 years. It's not 20, it's not 50, it's not 75. It's 100. That's a lot of time. And so much has changed. And I guess, you know, the seismic change that I think about, especially when we reflect on MFS’ and State Street's history, is not only the globalization of the economies and how that’s changed our businesses so much and even our locations, but also just the sheer size of the industry, you know, $30 trillion industry in the United States, a $65 trillion industry globally. It's amazing and remarkable.

Donna Milrod: So maybe we can talk a little bit about our partnership first and then maybe we'll talk about some of these broader themes. So you know, 100 years together. What does that mean for MFS and our partnership to this day?

Carol Geremia: First and foremost, I think, for MFS, one of the things to think about having survived 100 years and thrived, I guess. Just this idea of adapting and dealing with change and recognizing, how do you deal with disruption? But I also would say probably the most rewarding part of this is what we say a lot and that's wealth creation for all. It's this idea of the democratization of investing. It's giving the small investor access to the markets and creating this opportunity that I don't think 100 years ago, the founders could have ever dreamed that it would be this worldwide and this important not only to people's financial dreams and futures, but also how capital is allocated in the entire economies and systems around the world. I mean, we today now have a lot of influence as people in our industry overseeing other people's money, but putting that money to work responsibly.

Donna Milrod: And it's so interesting when we talk about partnership, because where our views and our values are so much aligned. And they have been since 1924 when we first launched this together. So we think about it as supporting the world's investors in exactly the same way, and how to create that wealth creation through new innovation and products. So, I think that's a testament to kind of that alignment of vision and mission.

Carol Geremia: Absolutely. I mean, when I think about the partnership with State Street, I've been at MFS for 40 years, so I've watched it really grow and change. And it's the alignment part that you talk about is the thing I think we're most proud of.

Donna Milrod: So what are the lessons that we may have learned in the past 100 years, for the next 100 years, or even for the next ten years for MFS?

Carol Geremia: Yeah. Well, if there's one thing that's great about celebrating an anniversary is a reflection on history, because it always teaches you something. And so I think the lessons we have learned are the ones that as industry, we talk a lot about. But every time we go through different cycles, we move away from their importance or how much they matter, and the first one, I would say, is liquidity, like the power of liquidity in the public markets. We cannot underestimate today, even though there's a huge uptick of going to private markets, it's great for diversification and return. But the importance of liquidity matters, transparency, governance, the things that again, when we get ourselves in trouble, we always revert back. Risk management, time horizons. I think our world has forgotten and dumbed down the importance of some of these things, and that speed is better. And ironically, you know, actually extending time horizons is what we should all be thinking about because it's a much better way to manage risk, especially with other people's money.

Donna Milrod: So I think that's another way that we will partner as we think forward in the next five, ten, 100 years. So we intend to be there, right there with you. And as always, thank you so much for your partnership and of course, spending time with us today. And congratulations on your 100 year anniversary.

Carol Geremia: Well, thank you. And the same goes back to, State Street and to all of your team, because it has been a true allyship. That has has been fit for purpose for a long time.

Donna Milrod: And stood the test of time.

Carol Geremia: That's right.

Donna Milrod: Thank you.

Tadhg Young: Hello, I'm Tadhg Young. I'm head of the Global Clients Division at State Street. I'm delighted to be here this morning with David Giunta, who is president and CEO of Natixis Investment Managers here in the United States. And we're here to celebrate a very special milestone. And that is the 100 year anniversary of the launch of the very first US open ended mutual fund. David, thanks for joining us this morning.

David Giunta: Thank you, Tadhg, thanks for having me. That's great.

Tadhg Young: And as you can see, we're here in Washington for the for the ICI conference. I'm delighted that you were able to join us. David, maybe you can give us a sense of Natixis history of using mutual funds and what you've seen as the key advantages they offer?

David Giunta: Sure. Well, we have a long history with mutual funds. In fact, one of our affiliates, Loomis Sayles, launched their first mutual fund back in 1929. And at this point, they've grown quite a bit. We have 73 mutual funds at this point with, equity, fixed income and alternative offerings. So across the whole spectrum and some of the great milestones we've had is just some of the wonderful managers that we've bought over the years and adopted them into the family. So Loomis Sayles was the first, but then along the way, we also have Oakmark, AEW, Vaughan Nelson, and Gateway. So a nice broad array of mutual fund offerings for our clients.

Tadhg Young: That's really proud history, any insights as to why has this product endured anything special that's attractive about it, that's kept it so strong?

David Giunta: If you look at mutual funds, they're an easy, convenient, affordable way to access some of the best managers in the world. And you can do that across all the different asset classes. So whether you're looking at equities, fixed income or alternatives, and they can be a great building block for a diversified portfolio, it can also help you with the risk management of those portfolios. But at the end of the day, for everybody to be able to access the best investment talent in the world, that's a real huge advantage of mutual funds.

Tadhg Young: And what's your sense of the future for the US mutual fund? If you even take a 100 year view, will they still be around?

David Giunta: I do believe they will. There are a lot there's a lot of money in mutual funds right now, 22 trillion in total. And so they've been a building block of a lot of portfolios. And as I mentioned, they're an easy, convenient way for investors to get involved in the markets and to build portfolios for the long term. So I do think that mutual funds will continue to be an important vehicle for us in the long term.

Tadhg Young: David, thanks very much for joining us.

David Giunta: Thank you Tadhg.

Donna Milrod: So welcome. I'm Donna Milrod, Chief Product Officer at State Street Corporation, and I'm here today with Ted Truscott, the CEO of Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Ted, thank you so much for coming today.

Ted Truscott: It's great to be here, Donna. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Donna Milrod: We're here to celebrate today the 100 year anniversary of the first open ended mutual fund. And we're going to talk a little bit about the history and the future of the mutual fund. So, Ted, tell me a little bit about, from your perspective, what makes the mutual fund so enduring? And maybe you can share a little bit about what it means to your company and how much you've been involved over the past 100 years.

Ted Truscott: Sure, for Columbia Threadneedle mutual funds are part of our DNA. We're a top 15 provider by AUM so mutual funds are a big makeup of what we do. And it's quite interesting, because if you think about the mutual fund, we also manage the Tri-Continental fund. It's a closed end fund that was established in January 14th, 1929. So it goes way back and interestingly enough, because the UK arm of what we do, it's unit trusts and investment trusts, we manage the oldest investment trust in the world, which is, called the “Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust” and it was established in 1868. So the history of mutual funds goes way back in our firm. Our oldest traditional mutual fund is at least, probably 50 years old or so, and, we've been in this business a long time, and we think it offers us a series of great advantages to customers.

Donna Milrod: So, since the first open ended US mutual fund was 1924, you’re right after MFS.

Ted Truscott: I'd say, you know, Columbia Threadneedle is a collection of companies through acquisitions. So I am sure that one of the component parts of Columbia Threadneedle is probably right there with MFS, but probably not quite as old. I think MFS still has the lock on this one.

Donna Milrod: Well, we like to say we're also the first custodian of the mutual funds, so we were probably there with one of your predecessor companies. So we talked a little bit about how enduring the mutual fund construct is. Maybe you could talk a little bit about what you were just intimating that it is so enduring. And it does have real advantages. I think there's been so much innovation over those 100 years, and yet the mutual fund endures. So could you talk a little bit about that?

Ted Truscott: Sure. The mutual fund, I think, is enduring because in some ways it's so easy. Right? You transacted at NAV, one of the innovations is you can write checks on money market funds, you can exchange mutual funds, dividends are reinvested, it's a low cost way of investing, there's instant diversification, there's just so many advantages to the mutual fund that I think it is enduring. And I think it's a way that people grow up learning to invest and how they can invest, how they can take advantage of, the nature of the pooled vehicle and, and essentially diversify and enjoy the benefits of people that may have a much higher net worth, that may be able to use more sophisticated options.

Donna Milrod: So then looking forward, we talked a little bit about how it's enduring, but what's next for the mutual fund and what are the next 100 years look like?

Ted Truscott: Look, I think the mutual fund is going to be around 100 years from now, but it is going to have to adapt over time. And I think that's one of the things that we need to be really cognizant of is that there are other vehicles out there that offer some advantages. You know, the close cousin of the mutual fund is the ETF. The ETF offers, potential tax efficiency. It also offers transparency that the mutual fund doesn't necessarily have. So I will say that, the ICI has been working on how we can modernize, essentially the mutual fund industry, the so-called 40 act fund and there are a lot of great ideas out there that I think will help. And so I think the mutual fund is going to just keep evolving as it has over time already, and it's going to be a relevant part of what we're talking about another hundred years from now.

Donna Milrod: Well, thank you so much, Ted. I think this was really delightful to have you here with us and to mark such a milestone birthday for the US open ended mutual fund.

Ted Truscott: Great. Thank you, Donna.

Tadhg Young: Hello, I'm Tadhg Young. I'm head of State Street's Global Clients Division. I have the pleasure today of being joined by Peter Strelow, who is co-CEO of PIMCO and chairman of PIMCO's Funds. We're here to celebrate a very special milestone that is the 100 year anniversary of the launch of the first US open ended mutual fund. Peter, thanks for joining us here in Washington at ICI.

Peter Strelow: My pleasure, Tadhg.

Tadhg Young: Peter, what is PIMCO's history of mutual funds, and are there any key milestones in how they've evolved that you'd like to highlight?

Peter Strelow: Yes, PIMCO is actually fairly unique in that we started our mutual funds in the 1980s for our institutional investors.

Tadhg Young: What are the advantages of mutual funds, why have they endured so long?

Peter Strelow: They're easy to own. They're really good for long term investments. And they really bring professional asset management to everyone. They provide diversification benefits, daily liquidity at net asset value, and they're really highly competitive in terms of fees. And there's certainly risk in any investing but the mutual fund is very well established. It is highly regulated and there's very strong governance.

Tadhg Young: Peter, how important are mutual funds to PIMCO's business, and do you see that changing over time?

Peter Strelow: So we're definitely seeing clients interested in additional vehicles like closed end funds, ETFs, interval funds, CITs, which is great because it meets one of their needs. We fully believe that the mutual fund will be around. And because it's a great investment vehicle for long term investors, including in retirement plans, and we plan to continue to provide that institutional quality offering via the PIMCO funds to institutional as well as individual investors. And regulation that benefits shareholders is very important. And we look forward to continuing to work with our government on any initiatives that impact mutual funds.

Tadhg Young: Peter, thanks very much for joining us.

Peter Strelow: My pleasure.

Donna Milrod: Hello, I'm Donna Milrod. I'm the Chief Product Officer at State Street Corporation, and today I'm joined by Jody Jonsson. She's the Vice Chairman of the Capital Group and the President of Capital Research and Management company. Thank you, Jody, for joining us today. It's wonderful to have you here to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the first US open ended mutual fund.

Jody Jonsson: It's great to be here to celebrate that with you.

Donna Milrod: Jody, maybe we could start with Capital Group's history with the mutual fund, you can talk to us a little bit about that and maybe share with us some of the milestones that you all have experienced with the mutual fund?

Jody Jonsson: Well, our oldest fund, Investment Company of America, its origins date back to 1926. So we've been around almost 100 years in the in the mutual fund business. Over our history, we've had a lot of different innovations. One of the funds that I'm involved with, New Perspective Fund, was our first global fund, launched in 1973 when global investing was really hardly a thing at all. We also started our Geneva office in 1962, and out of that eventually came the MSCI indices, where we were the Capital International in the MSCI, doing the statistical work that went into the development of indices, to have benchmarks to measure ourselves against. If you think back to the 60s, we didn't even have any sorts of benchmarks back then. And then, as recently as 1987, we had 1 million shareholders in American funds. We now have over 60 million accounts. So it is really incredible the way that the mutual fund vehicle has been so rewarding for so many people and has served such a wide variety of investors so well.

Donna Milrod: So then why do you think they've endured?

Jody Jonsson: The benefits of scale, the ability to access investing all over the world. We've had a global fund that I'm involved with has a track record of over 50 years. That vehicle was one of the first ways that people could invest globally, for example. So the opportunity to invest in more asset classes, in more geographies at low cost, with expertise, and then with the overlay of very constructive regulation, for example, the independent directors and the oversight that they provide gives a lot of safety and transparency. And I think confidence in the vehicle as a vehicle of choice for many millions of investors. That's not to say that the vehicle can't evolve over time. And, you know, while mutual funds are still the vehicle of choice for many and particularly within retirement plans, now you do have more innovation in ETFs and in particular active ETFs, which we've just launched in the last couple of years and been very excited about the receptivity to that vehicle as well. So the mutual fund continues to evolve into new forms that are relevant for a new era.

Donna Milrod: So maybe that's a great segue to what's next? So what is the next 100 years look like for the mutual fund?

Jody Jonsson: Well, I think what you see in the industry is this evolution toward the vehicle of choice, whatever is best suited to the investor's particular need, whether that's their tax situation, whether that's a need for personalization. And I think you hear many companies in our industry saying, we want to be able to offer our services in whatever vehicle the investor would like to buy them in, whether that's a mutual fund, an ETF, a CIT, an SMA. I think we'll probably have a variety of different vehicles, but I think the underlying foundations of the common investment vehicle that the mutual fund represents will continue.

Donna Milrod: So do you think that the mutual fund itself needs to innovate? Do you think it needs to take on more attributes like an ETF, or do you think that each of those vehicles will stay in their lane?

Jody Jonsson: I think the ICI has been very involved in thinking about how to modernize the mutual fund. And while the Investment Company Act of 1940 has served us extraordinarily well for decades. There are some aspects of it that can be tweaked, I think, and ICI has been very proactive in thinking about that. I think it would be great if mutual funds were not disadvantaged versus other vehicles, for example, from a tax standpoint, but I don't know what that's likely to happen. I think it would be great if essentially investors could be indifferent among vehicles and then just choose whichever one makes the most sense for their situation.

Donna Milrod: Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Jody. So appreciate you joining us today to celebrate a very, very important anniversary.

Jody Jonsson: It's great to be here and we're excited to be part of this.

Donna Milrod: Hello, I'm Donna Milrod, Chief Product Officer at State Street Corporation, and I'm joined here today with Theresa Hamacher. She's the Chair of the board of the Morningstar Funds Trust. Theresa, thank you so much for joining us today to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the first US open ended mutual fund.

Theresa Hamacher: I'm so excited to be here, Donna. I just love mutual funds.

Donna Milrod: Maybe you could start with a little bit of your own history and maybe with Morningstar as well with the mutual fund?

Theresa Hamacher: Yeah. So, I feel like my life has been entwined with mutual funds for a long time, and not just because I work in the industry, but I have a very vivid memory in my teens of my neighbor down the street coming and talking to us about the virtues of money market mutual funds, which were new in the 1970s.

Donna Milrod: Sounds like a wonderful street to grow up on.

Theresa Hamacher: Yeah. You know, he explained how they worked and how you could earn a much higher return as an individual than you could get at the bank, because bank interest rates were regulated at the time, it just seemed a very kind of miraculous thing that an individual investor could very easily get the same returns as much larger investors.

Donna Milrod: Maybe you could talk a little bit about Morningstar's role as it relates to the mutual fund?

Theresa Hamacher: Yeah. So independent trustees, it's a little-known fact that every mutual fund is a corporation, and it has a board of directors. And by law, it's required to have directors who are independent, which means that they don't they have no connection to the manager of the fund. And so those independent trustees, their sole job is to look out for the welfare and the interests of the investors in the fund. And today, most mutual funds in the US have over three quarters of their directors are independent. And so we keep an eye on everything that happens in the fund. So performance, risks, fees, the services that the fund provides to its investors and so we just make it a lot easier for investors because we're there keeping an eye on things.

Donna Milrod: So maybe you can talk a little bit about why you think the mutual fund has endured, given your history with them. I think your perfect to explain that to us.

Theresa Hamacher: Well, I would say independent trustees are one reason why, but I also think that they've just worked for people. Millions of Americans have been able to meet their financial goals because they invested in a mutual fund. It's been easy. You don't need a lot of money to get started. You can buy it in a lot of different formats that meets your needs, and you get professional investment advice as part of that package.

Donna Milrod: So then maybe looking to the future, and the next 100 years, what do you think that entails for the mutual fund? Meaning, there's also been a history of innovation even within that construct. What does that look like going forward?

Theresa Hamacher: I think the mutual fund will endure. I cannot think of another financial innovation that has had such a positive effect on the American family. So I think the mutual fund endures but I think for folks in the baby boom generation, Gen X, this is something that we were introduced to when it was new and exciting and so we're more aware. I think that the future means making sure that the younger generations are just as aware of the value of mutual funds as the older generations. And I think that means, a lot of communication, but I mutual funds are particularly well positioned for that because they are so transparent and definitely social media, all of the communication, it's all about transparency. So we're halfway there. We just need to make sure that we get that message out.

Donna Milrod: Great. Well, thank you so much, Theresa, for joining us today. Really enjoyed hearing from you about your views about the mutual fund and its future.

Theresa Hamacher: It's been a pleasure. Thank you Donna.

Anna Bernasek: I'm Anna Bernasek, Global Head of Thought Leadership at State Street. And I'm talking with Eric Pan, the CEO of the Investment Company Institute. Hello, Eric. Thanks so much for joining me today.

Eric Pan: Hello. Glad to be here.

Anna Bernasek: Eric, this year is a special anniversary for the industry, 100 years of mutual funds. So when you look back on that history, what are the sort of key milestones in the evolution of mutual funds that really should be highlighted?

Eric Pan: Well, so first, 100 years ago, back in 1924, it was actually up in Boston, that MFS created the first mutual fund- MIT. Which continues today, and that kickstarted what I consider to be the modern era of investment funds, because even though we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the mutual fund, this is not a story only about mutual funds. Mutual funds later spawn things like ETFs. And they spawned, fund innovations like target date funds, and they later spawned money market funds. And even today, when we talk about things like collected investment trusts and separately managed accounts, I think they all are descendants from the original idea of the mutual fund back in 1924.

Anna Bernasek: Right. So, Eric, then if you had to boil it down, what's the magic of mutual funds? Why have they endured over a century?

Eric Pan: I think the magic of mutual funds is this idea that here's a vehicle that someone who has no experience in financial markets, who doesn't have the time, the resources or the education to really even know how to operate in the financial markets, can put their money into a vehicle, have it be professionally managed, have it pursue an investment strategy that's consistent with what they're interested in, offers diversification, and has a track record of actually, doing very well as long as the markets are doing well. When we talk about funds democratizing finance, that's what we really mean. We're talking about allowing regular people, for today, middle class Americans are the biggest consumers of these fund products. So regular people getting all of the advantages of being in the markets. And I think this has been tremendously beneficial to American families and the economy.

Anna Bernasek: So we've talked a little bit about the past. We've touched on the present. What about the future? Where do you see the future of mutual funds going?

Eric Pan: So I think the story continues because, there always will be this basic need, which is people want to be able to invest for the long term. People want to see their money grow. People have long term financial goals, education, retirement, buying a house. So the need for mutual funds continues. And that's not going to change. I think what will change is that the funds industry will find new and different ways of trying to respond to that need. As society changes and society starts getting interested in new trends, for example, there are clearly many people now are interested in sustainable investing. As people start getting interested in new asset classes, fund products will evolve to respond to that changing demand. but at the end of the day, they're all fulfilling the exact same thing that they fulfilled back in 1924, which is this long-term investing goal.

Anna Bernasek: Terrific. Well, thank you so much, Eric, for sharing your insights today, and especially since you're so busy. And it's a big time for ICI. So thank you very much.

Eric Pan: Well it's my pleasure. Thank you.