Fund giants Fidelity, Vanguard and others turn up lobbying

Fidelity Investments of Boston spent $940,000 — both directly and via third-party firms — during the second quarter to lobby lawmakers in Washington on financial regulatory reform, retirement, taxes and other issues, according to recent filings with the House of Representatives' Office of the Clerk. The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa., spent $320,000 on issues involving money market funds, mortgages and municipal bonds, among others, its filing showed. Barclays PLC of London and its U.S. affiliates — including Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco, which distributes iShares exchange traded funds — spent $360,000 to influence decision makers on Capitol Hill on such issues as banking and derivatives reform, according to its filing. A handful of other fund groups spent smaller amounts to shape policy — most notably, Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC of Newport Beach, Calif. According to its filing, Pimco spent $30,000 to influence policy on issues such as the tax treatment of exchange traded notes — vehicles which act similarly to ETFs but are debt-backed by the issuer — and issues related to financial regulatory reform, including commodities speculation. E-mail David Hoffman at [email protected].