Booth’s DFA Gets Green Light for Tax-Busting Vanguard Design

Quant firm Dimensional Fund Advisors has received formal approval to adopt a fund structure that for two decades has been used exclusively by Vanguard Group to save investors billions of dollars in taxes.

Dimensional, founded by David Booth, said on Monday that regulators had granted it so-called exemptive relief to offer dual share class funds. Dimensional had applied to add exchange-traded fund share classes to 13 of its US equity funds, and said in a press release that it will continue to evaluate “subsequent candidates.” The US Securities and Exchange Commission in September had indicated that the approval was coming.