Following the stock market crash of 1929 that presaged the Great Depression, Congress passed a series of acts related to securities and financial regulation. One of these, the Investment Company Act of 1940, clearly defined the responsibilities of investment companies. This same year, what would become ICI was established in New York as the National Committee of Investment Companies, an organization to aid in the administration of the act. It became the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) in 1941, and then the Investment Company Institute in 1961.