Corporate annual meetings provide one of the great rituals of business reporting, a rare chance to watch executives and directors speak directly with investors.

But mutual fund shareholder meetings are much more obscure. Most top funds only stage them every few years such as when they need a bylaw tweak. Few investors bother to show up.

So initially I wasn’t so excited when a colleague pointed out a rule change the New York Stock Exchange, opens new tab put forward to eliminate required annual meetings for closed-end funds. I changed my mind when I saw the proposal generated pushback from academics and investors who understand it as a bid to prop up underperformers.