Money Management Executive articles from August 2006

Money Management Executive archives from August 2006

SEC Charges Ex-Janus Executives in Timing Case.
August 7, 2006... The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged three former Janus Capital executives with violating federal securities laws and prospectus provisions by allowing or facilitating improper frequent trading arrangements for two brokerage...

Advice Bill to Result in Diluted Guidance: Conflicts of Interest Still Seen Giving Providers Pause.
August 7, 2006... Something is better than nothing when it comes to investors seeking advice, retirement market watchers agree. Even if that advice is conflicted. If signed into law by President Bush, the Pension Reform Bill allows not only retirement plan...

Fidelity, SunGard Unite on Platform: Create Strong Support for Trust Services.
August 7, 2006... Fidelity Investments and SunGard Data Systems formed a multi-year partnership last week that unites Fidelity's brokerage services with SunGard's transaction processing capabilities, on a single platform. The deal gives each company a greater...

Fidelity Plans $100 Million Facility in North Carolina.
August 7, 2006... Fidelity Investments will spend $100 million to build a facility in Wake County, North Carolina, Governor Mike Easley announced last week. Fidelity already employs 1,000 at the Research Triangle Park campus, who will be moved to join the...

Backdated Options Cause Little Backlash: Repricing Options Not Hurting Company Stock.
August 7, 2006... As the list of companies embroiled in the brouhaha surrounding backdated options continues to grow, the effect on their stocks, and the mutual funds that hold them, seems to be shrinking. "It's a matter of half-empty or half-full," said...

Ex-Fiserv Exec Settles for Timing in Own Account.(Robert Hetzer vs. Securities and Exchange Commission )(late trading case)(Brief article)
August 7, 2006... Robert Hetzer, a former senior vice president in charge of mutual fund trading at Fiserv Securities, will pay more than $600,000 to settle allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in late trading of mutual funds...

529 College Plans Adding Bank Accounts to Offerings.(Brief article)
August 7, 2006... To attract more conservative investors, a growing number of states are adding federally insured bank products to their 529 college savings plans. While a few states have offered bank accounts in their plans, interest in 529 certificates of...

Executive Moves.(Gregory Adams joins Fred Alger Management)(Steven Cravath joins ProFund Advisors)(Grant Brisacher joins Envision Financial Systems )
August 7, 2006... Fred Alger Selects Adams, Shen as Research Execs Fred Alger Management has hired Gregory Adams as senior vice president and director of quantitative research and Eric Shen as vice president and analyst covering biotechnology and...

Seniors Begin Fighting Back Against Investment Fraud.(senior citizens )
August 7, 2006... Crooks are increasingly swindling money from senior citizens by directing them into bad investment choices. By one estimate, according to the AARP, there are five million victims of elder financial abuse each year. But senior citizens are...

Doing Good Through Mutual Funds.(New Covenant Funds of Columbus)(Amana Funds)(American Century Investments Inc.)
August 7, 2006... For at least three mutual funds, charity clearly begins at home. The New Covenant Funds of Columbus, Ohio, with a collective $1.5 billion across four mutual funds, is giving a new push for its so-called "First Fruits" program that allows...

Mutual Fund Retention Rates Surpass Four Years: Investors in Asset-Allocation Funds Trust Managers.
August 7, 2006... Mutual fund retention rates jumped to record highs over the last two years, a sign that "smart" investors have been the driving force of the recent bull market. Boston-based Dalbar's "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior" reveals...

International ETF Assets Doubled Over Past Year To Nearly $83 Billion.(exchange traded fund )(Brief article)
August 14, 2006... Exchange-traded funds focused on international holdings continue to take the investment world by storm. In the past 12 months, total ETF assets rose 38% to $335.1 billion, while global ETFs almost doubled to $82.8 billion, according to the...

Cox Won't Pursue Hedge Fund Rule: But Promise of New Rules Give Some Pause.(Christopher Cox -Securities and Exchange Commission )
August 14, 2006... Just because the Securities and Exchange Commission will not pursue the hedge fund registration rule struck down by the courts, does not mean Chairman Christopher Cox has abandoned efforts to increase oversight of hedge funds. "The...

SEC Takes Hard Look at Merrill Rule': Now All Broker/Dealers Not Behind Advice.
August 14, 2006... What's in a name? A whole lot of consumer protection, if that name happens to be "investment adviser," according to opponents of the 2005 Securities and Exchange Commission rule allowing broker/dealers to offer clients advice along with...

New Products in the Pipeline for Boomers.
August 14, 2006... Firms are developing new products and repositioning old ones to vie for the business of the nation's 77 million Baby Boomers as they start planning for retirement. "Financial products with the right balance of flexibility, growth potential...

Jennison Dryden Offers 401(k) Fiduciary Tool.(Jennison Dryden Mutual Funds)(Brief article)
August 14, 2006... Jennison Dryden Mutual Funds, Prudential Financial's proprietary fund family, has introduced Investment Monitor, a diagnostic plan-level review that helps financial advisers meet their 401(k) fiduciary responsibility by determining if the...

Few Actively Managed Funds Beat Their Indexes.(Brief article)
August 14, 2006... As much as investors and fund managers strive to beat the index, the task is a difficult one and usually unsuccessful. Around two-thirds of professionally managed large-cap equity mutual funds are outperformed by Standard and Poor's 500...

Morningstar's Profit Rises 18% in Second Quarter.(Brief article)
August 14, 2006... Morningstar reported that its second-quarter profit rose 18% to $11.2 million, or 24 cents a share, compared to $9.5 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. The company said its recent acquisitions, combined with rising demand for its...

Executive Moves.(Robert Holderith joins ProShares Advisors)(Sam Masemer joins Touchstone Investments)(Lawrence V. Whistler joins Elias Asset Management )
August 14, 2006... ProShares Hires Holderith As VP, National Sales Mgr. ProShares Advisors has hired Robert Holderith as vice president and national sales manager for ETF products, a newly created sales position. Holderith was a corporate vice president at...

Fund Firms Target Women With Seminars, Advertising.
August 14, 2006... The stereotype that women have fewer assets and are not interested in finances is beginning to fade, and fund companies are increasingly starting to recognize the opportunity to capture this underserved niche. Given that men and women think...

Pax World Updates Its Social Screens.
August 14, 2006... To quote legendary folk singer Bob Dylan, "The times they are a-changin'." That's the rationale behind three social screening changes that Pax World Management of Portsmouth, N.H., advisor to the three Pax World Funds, will be asking...

ETF Firms Expand Menus to Fend Off New Providers.(Barclays Global Investors)(State Street Global Advisors Inc.)( Vanguard )
August 14, 2006... As new competitors continue to flood the market with exchange-traded funds, established players like Barclays Global Investors, State Street Global Advisors and Vanguard are adjusting their lineups and launching products to maintain their...

SEC Issues Guidance For Hedge Fund Advisors.(Securities and Exchange Commission's)(Brief article)
August 21, 2006... The Securities and Exchange Commission's division of investment management has issued a response to queries from the American Bar Association regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals' decision to overturn the hedge fund registration rule. SEC...

Funds Hit by Terrorism, Oil Scares: Market Recovers Quickly, But Long-Term Issues Remain.
August 21, 2006... Events on both sides of the world brought bad news to the energy and transportation sectors this month. Although the market disruption seemed short lived, the thwarted terror plot in London and British Petroleum's pipeline problems in Alaska...

Funds Transform Distribution Strategies.
August 21, 2006... Fund firms are starting to transform and modernize their distribution strategies to remain competitive as the asset management business becomes more consultative and investors look for value-added relationships. "There is going to be a...

BISYS Taps Bear to Explore Alternatives.(Bear Stearns )
August 21, 2006... BISYS' recent announcement that it has hired Bear Stearns to explore "strategic alternatives" has fueled much speculation that it is up for sale and plans to sell the company in pieces. BISYS, headquartered in Roseland, N.J., provides an...

Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Smith Barney.(Salomon Smith Barney )(Brief article)
August 21, 2006... The U.S. Southern District Court has rejected a class-action lawsuit against Salomon Smith Barney that accused the firm of paying undisclosed fees to financial advisers and brokers to promote its funds and of encouraging its proprietary funds...

SEC Seeks Proposals on XBRL Technology.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief article)
August 21, 2006... The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a request for proposal for technology firms to submit solutions for applying Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to SEC filings so that it is easier for investors and analysts to...

Morningstar Offers Tool For Advisers on 529s.(Brief article)
August 21, 2006... Morningstar has developed a Web-based tool to help financial advisers generate reports to communicate to investors all the fees and state tax benefits associated with 529 college savings plans, in response to the new Municipal Securities...

Executive Moves.(Hewitt Associates L.L.C. - Russell P. Fradin)(Deutsche Bank AG - Mark Chiappara)(Wisdom Tree Inc. -Arthur Levitt)
August 21, 2006... Hewitt Associates Names Fradin Chief Executive Hewitt Associates has named Russell P. Fradin chairman and chief executive officer, effective Sept. 5. He will succeed Dale L. Gifford, who is retiring after spending more than 30 years with...

States, Companies to Scramble for More of 529 Space.
August 21, 2006... Competition on the 529 playground is about to get fierce. With the federal tax break on state-sponsored college savings plans now permanent, parents and grandparents saving to educate the next generation can look forward to more competition...

New Entrants, Products to Drive SMA Growth.(separately managed account )
August 21, 2006... Robust growth in the separately managed account industry is expected to continue in the next few years, driven by new entrants and modified products. SMA assets are projected to increase from $700 billion today to $1 trillion by 2010,...

Flat Fee Opens Small 401(k) Manager Niche.(Glencrest Investment Advisors - Shawn Ecklund)(Company overview)
August 21, 2006... Glencrest Investment Advisors, an affiliate of PFF Bancorp in Pomona, Calif., has found a fast-growing niche: providing active asset management to small and midsize 401(k) plans. The small Claremont, Calif., firm more than doubled its 401(k)...