Fidelity, Vanguard, others spent big bucks on 2Q lobbying

Boston’s Fidelity Investments spent $940,000 — both directly and via third-party firms – during the second quarter to lobby Washington lawmakers on financial regulatory reform, retirement, taxes and other issues, according to recent filings with the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa., spent $320,000 on issues involving money market funds, mortgages and municipal bonds, among other things, 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 lawmakers on such issues as banking and derivative reform, according to its filing. A handful of other fund groups spent smaller amounts to shape policy: most notably Pacific Investment Management Co. of Newport Beach, Calif. According to its filing, it spent $30,000 to influence policy on things 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.