Money Management Executive articles from April 2009

Money Management Executive archives from April 2009

Stretched Thin, Firms Hack Away at Expenses; As Performance Plummets, Funds Look for Ways to Reduce Costs.(Ops & Tech)
April 6, 2009... Byline: John Morgan As mutual fund assets continue to decline and investors migrate to low-cost products, fund companies are struggling to make management fees stretch even farther. In addition to cutting staff, already lean firms will...

John Hancock's Hartstein Aims for Growth Ahead.(Mutual Funds)(Interview)
April 6, 2009... Byline: John Morgan While most mutual fund companies struggled in 2008, John Hancock Funds finished the year in solid standing, buoyed by a strong first half and careful strategic planning. President and CEO Keith Hartstein recently spoke...

Beneficial Wealth Unit Sees Opportunity in Crisis.(Separately Managed Accounts)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Steve Garmhausen, American Banker The top wealth management executive at Beneficial Bank in Philadelphia said his unit aims to take advantage of its rivals' "distractions." "We have fairly aggressive goals given the market,"...

News Flash.(News Flash)
April 6, 2009... Byline: By Editorial Staff Americans Still Committed To Investing, AARP Finds Without divulging the figure, AARP said "many" Americans it surveyed are still committed to saving and investing for retirement. Most respondents said that...

Executive Moves.(Executive Moves)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Putnam Hires Lewis as Director of DC Sales Putnam Investments has hired Benjamin H. Lewis as managing director of defined contribution sales and relationship management. A 23-year veteran of the 401(k) industry...

Bank Investment Units' Heads Get Pick of Advisers.(News)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Howard Stock, Bank Investment Consultant One shift in distribution strategy the financial crisis has caused, which fund sales directors should take note of, is that banks are looking far more attractive to a variety of advisers and...

Money Funds Risk Losing Core Principle; Banking Sector Could Gobble Up Industry's Assets if $1 NAV is Lost.(Mutual Funds)
April 13, 2009... Byline: John Morgan The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering eliminating the stable, $1 net asset value (NAV) requirement that money market mutual funds have long held, by either making the funds have a floating $1 NAV or a...

Compliance Monitoring Needs a Breakthrough; New Regulations Have Compliance Departments Spread Thin.(Regulation & Compliance)
April 13, 2009... Byline: John Morgan With new global regulations forthcoming, corporate compliance departments will need to upgrade aging systems and expand automation technology just to keep up. The time for little fixes may be over, and firms cannot use...

Equity Funds Declined 9.25% in First Quarter; Only 6.9% of All Equity, Mixed Equity Funds Were in the Black.(Mutual Funds)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Lee Barney Equity funds were clobbered in the first quarter of 2009, declining 9.25%, Lipper reported last week. Performance would have been even worse, were it not for a surprise rally in March. "It was a deja vu experience...

News Flash.(News Flash)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff 50% of Investors Now Seek 401(k) Income Solutions Half of participants in 401(k) plans would like to have the option of rolling their money into a guaranteed income solution, but that does not exist in their...

Week In Review.(Week In Review)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Frugality Expected to be the 'New Normal' The mutual fund industry got a swift dose of investors' new conservative sentiment recently when PIMCO released a survey showing that 401(k) consultants are focusing on...

Increasing Plan Size Via Auto Enrollment Lowers 401(k) Fees: ICI.(401(k)s)
April 20, 2009... Byline: John Morgan The best way to get investors the lowest 401(k) fees possible is to automatically enroll as many of them as possible into big plans with high contribution rates, according to a study released last week on the economics...

Hedge Funds' Next Act: Internal Audits.(Hedge Funds)
April 20, 2009... Byline: Alan Fish, Partner, and Shannon Urban, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young Whether driven by the demands of potential or existing investors, regulators or a new strategic direction, hedge fund and private equity firms are moving beyond...

At Deadline.(At Deadline)
April 20, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Companies Save Millions Suspending 401(k) Matches Suspending 401(k) matches for just one year can save most companies millions of dollars a year, but doing so can severely negatively impact participants' savings...

Uncertainty Spreads to Retirement Planning Stunned Investors Don't Know Where to Invest, How to Act.(Retirement)
April 27, 2009... Byline: John Morgan NEW YORK-After suffering deep losses in their retirement savings accounts, most Americans appear to be in a state of shock, unsure where to move next. "People are shell-shocked, paralyzed and afraid to do...

House Takes Aim At 401(k) Fees; Some Call Index Fund Requirement an Unprecedented Mandate.(Regulation & Compliance)
April 27, 2009... Byline: John Morgan The House Education & Labor Committee last week proposed new rules for 401(k) disclosure that will give investors greater transparency into the fees they are paying, but some 401(k) advocates say the new rules are too...

'Social-Capitalism' Creates Brave New World For Mutual Fund Investors.(Editor's Desk)
April 27, 2009... Byline: Lee Barney There has been some talk that the government bailouts and industry intervention are leading America toward socialism. Whether or not that shocking and unsettling claim turns out to be true, the government will...

Executive Moves.(Executive Moves)
April 27, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Putnam to Double 401(k) Wholesalers to 10 Putnam Investments plans to double its 401(k) wholesalers from five to 10 by year-end. In fact, Putnam might even hire more, and it will definitely continue to hire...