Money Management Executive articles from December 2003

Money Management Executive archives from December 2003

Ex-NHL Star to Lure Pros To Boston Private Bank.(Boston Private Bank and Trust Co. hires former Boston Bruin hockey star Derek Sanderson)
December 8, 2003... Boston Private Bank and Trust Co. has hired former Boston Bruin hockey star Derek Sanderson from State Street Global Advisors as a vice president and senior investment professional, to help it develop a line of business managing wealth for...

Scandal Squeeze Moves on to Fees: Execs Worry About Pressures on Profit Margins.
December 8, 2003... WASHINGTON - If the fund industry thought it already had enough legal headaches from Fundgate, its next problem could be a profit squeeze. Congress and some regulators, including the SEC, are beginning to link the market timing, late...

Winds of Change Making Industry Over: Who's in, Who's Out and Why.(Mutual fund industry)
December 8, 2003... Survivor: Mutual Fund Island. Which CEO will be the next to go? Many have taken the plunge already, but those who can outwit, outplay and outlast will be off the hot seat. No, it's not television. But it sure is reality. Putnam...

Star Wholesaler Richard Catts: Giving SMAs the Portfolio Management Touch.
December 8, 2003... For the past four years, I've been a senior vice president handling wholesaling for AllianceBernstein in the New York metro region, the fifth-largest SMA provider in the nation. During that time I've managed to attract about $3 billion in new...

Alliance Names Foulk Independent Fund Chair.(AllianceBernstein Mutual Funds)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... Alliance Capital has named an independent chairman of the board of a number of its funds, according to an SEC filing last week. The firm said it made the decision as a direct result of the ongoing investigations into market timing and late...

Scandal Claims Two Firms: Security Trust, Veras.(Security Trust and Veras Investment Partners)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... Security Trust Corp., the Phoenix-based firm whose three top officials were charged with felonies by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, will be shut down effective March 31, 2004. The Securities and Exchange Commission and state...

Executive Moves.(Arthur J. Barry, CFA, joins State Street Research & Management Co. as a vice president and portfolio manager of State Street Research Large-Cap Value Fund; notes other moves)
December 8, 2003... State Street Names Barry Large-Cap Value Fund PM Arthur J. Barry, CFA, has joined State Street Research & Management Co. as a vice president and portfolio manager of the State Street Research Large-Cap Value Fund. Reporting to Peter...

Fund Skippers Applaud Big Board Reforms: But ICI Concerned About Sell Side' Bias of New Board.
December 8, 2003... Mutual fund managers are tipping their caps to interim chief John Reed as the New York Stock Exchange preps itself for a makeover. But industry lobbyists suggest that the proposed governance structure fails to provide adequate representation....

Closed-end Funds See Banner Year.
December 8, 2003... Closed-end funds are on pace to close out a record year of asset raising. So far this year, 42 new closed-end funds have held their first public offering and have collectively raised a record $22 billion, according to Lipper. Another...

SRI Group: Investors Think Ethical Values Impact Financials.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... Most investors believe that companies operating in a socially responsible manner not only pose a lower investment risk, but that they also provide higher returns on investment, according to a recent survey. Some 71% of the 600 investors...

Everyone Was Doing It: Fed, Zitzewitz, Timed Market.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... Last week, as news broke that Putnam Investments told the Boilermakers Union to take its money elsewhere, it was reported that both Federal Reserve employees as well as Eric Zitzewitz, the Stanford University professor who researched and wrote...

Invesco Preps for Dogfight Over Disclosure: Market-Timing Abuses Continue to Roil Fund Industry.
December 15, 2003... Not all scandals are created equal. As such, Invesco Funds is apparently digging in its heels and preparing for a dogfight with regulators, a stark contrast to the "yes siring" going on at firms accused of more outrageous activities. So...

Crossfire: Vice Fund v. Noah Fund: Who's Been Naughty? Who's Been Nice?(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... Investing in sin stocks- is it naughty or just vice? Bill Van Alen, president and CEO of the Noah Fund, a Biblical-values based fund, believes people should invest according to their religious beliefs, while Dan Ahrens, co-portfolio manager of...

Five Questions With Curian's Jim Vitalie.(Interview)
December 15, 2003... Transparency, efficiency and low account minimums. That's the name of the game at Curian Capital, a Denver-based startup that has successfully implemented a purely Web-based managed account platform. Curian's online platform eliminates many...

STC Employee Fesses Up Faces up to 4 Years in Jail.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... Nicole McDermott, former senior vice president of corporate services at Security Trust Co., pled guilty to securities fraud charges for allowing hedge fund clients to trade behind the bell, NY AG Eliot Spitzer said. She faces a maximum of...

Canary Whistleblower Is Masked No More.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... Noreen Harrington, a former executive of the Stern Asset Management arm of the Hartz Group, identified herself as the initial whistleblower in the mutual fund scandal that has ravaged the industry, according to reports. Harrington, who...

One-Third of Investors Not Likely to Buy MFs Soon.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2003... The spate of investigations into mutual fund trading practices and intense media coverage has prompted more than one-third of existing mutual fund investors to say they are unlikely to buy mutual funds any time soon, according to a survey...

Executive Moves.
December 15, 2003... Buchanan Leaves Janus Sohn, Smith Promoted Michael Buchanan, the Janus High-Yield Fund portfolio manager, said he is quitting after a mere five months on the job. Originally Buchanan came to Janus Capital from New York-based investment firm...

Mellon Equity Parlays Short-term Gigs into New Biz.
December 15, 2003... While most investment management companies hunger to secure long-term relationships with clients of sizable assets, Mellon Equity Associates of Pittsburgh is happy to welcome small transitory clients looking for a comfy, but temporary, port to...

Pensions Target Marsh & McLennan Board For Putnam Screw-up.
December 15, 2003... There are many laws that hold parents responsible for the willful misconduct of their children, and now it looks like Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) may have to face the music for its lack of oversight of its Putnam Investments unit. Four of...

Part 1: Ahrens Refuses To Repent.(Interview)
December 15, 2003... Van Alen: At the Noah Fund, we believe that more and more investors are looking to invest in accordance with their spiritual and moral beliefs. Is it the Vice Fund's belief that investors are just looking to make a profit? Ahrens: First of...

Part 2: Van Alen Confesses His Sins.(Interview)
December 15, 2003... Ahrens: The Noah Fund has a 5.5% front end load, plus it has a 2.2% expense ratio. Do you think it's really socially responsible to sell this fund by appealing to someone's religious views when the expenses are so high? Van Alen: We...

NSCC to Delve into SMAs But Some Say: Not So Fast.(separately managed accounts)(National Securities Clearing Corporation)
December 22, 2003... Amid the shadow of the Securities and Exchange Commission's crucial drive toward assuring ethical mutual fund transactions, the National Securities Clearing Corporation, the commission's self-regulating organization that processes most fund...

Alliance Deal Sets Alarming Precedent: Spitzer Intent on Lowering Fund Fees.
December 22, 2003... The mutual fund scandal took a surprising turn last week when Alliance Capital Management agreed to lower management fees on its funds as part of a landmark $600 million settlement that could set an alarming precedent. Alliance will cut...

Is the Mutual Trust Broken?
December 22, 2003... The scandal of 2003 is such a pivotal event since the advent of the mutual fund industry in 1940 that there are two salient facts about it that will undoubtedly be remembered in years to come. Its magnitude and its stealth. That there were...

Putting the Right Spin on FundGate.
December 22, 2003... It's your worst nightmare come true. Regulators called yesterday to inform of their investigations into your firm's practices, and already some of the toughest news reporters in the industry have called for comments -some more than once. You...

Investor Psychology Important for Retirement Planning.
December 22, 2003... WASHINGTON - A judicious dose of investor psychology could mean a big difference in marketing retirement products. Daniel Kahneman, a psychology professor from Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., provided some insight into investors'...

Spitzer's Campaign Coffers Rake in $2 Million.
December 22, 2003... NEW YORK - New York State's top regulator, Eliot Spitzer, took a short break from stamping out mutual fund abuses earlier this month, long enough to raise $2 million at a fundraiser as the attorney general eyes a bid for governor. A...

ICI Asks SEC to Rein in Prevalence of Soft Dollars, Ban Directed Brokerage.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... To restore industry confidence and nudge investors' interests back to the forefront, the Investment Company Institute told the SEC last Monday it supports the curtailing of soft dollars and banning of "directed brokerage." Commenting on the...

Executive Moves.
December 22, 2003... Two Managers Leave AIM As Firm Reshuffles Funds Mutual fund manager AIM Investments has reshuffled the portfolio management teams on two of its funds. The Houston-based fund shop said two members of the management teams on the AIM...

Value of Anti-Market Timer Redemption Fees Questioned.
December 22, 2003... (Reprint from 12/9/02 MFMN) More mutual funds are adding redemption fees to curb market timers. However, these fees may not be the most effective strategy, according to industry analysts. "There's more they have to do proactively...

Awards for This Year's Best & Worst.
December 22, 2003... Things had to get better in 2003. That was the mantra heading into the year. After all, the market was entering its third consecutive down year and still reeling from the fallout from the bubble-burst and the ongoing war on terror. Logic only...

Moving Lawyers Front and Center.
December 22, 2003... If we were to stage a "Best of" show about the year's impact on job prospects, Eliot Spitzer would be a good choice to serve as our affable host. And you, as a compliance professional, would no doubt have a chance to walk up to the stage,...

Annuities: Looking Back at 2003.
December 22, 2003... The mutual fund industry has seen a marked bounce-back in the last few quarters, but despite high hopes, 2003 has turned out to be another year that the annuity industry would prefer to forget. Variable annuity sales are starting to recover and...