Money Management Executive articles from March 2007

Money Management Executive archives from March 2007

Suit Against Citi TA Execs Dismissed by Federal Judge.
March 5, 2007... A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission against two executives at a Citigroup transfer agent who realized nearly $100 million in savings from an affiliated transfer agent but kept the profits for the...

Hedge Funds Must Maintain Oversight, Set Standards When Outsourcing.
March 5, 2007... MIAMI-Hedge fund advisors that believe registration has benefits are quickly learning compliance brings plenty of headaches, too. And while for a small shop, outsourcing tasks, especially those related to reporting to regulators, may be...

B/Ds Up the Ante for Fund Distribution.
March 5, 2007... MIAMI-Distributing retail products has become more complex, and fund companies have to realize it's no longer business as usual. That was the message from speakers at The National Investment Company Service Association's 25th Anniversary Annual...

Funds Stress Security to Woo Investors.(new funds launched to combat economic recession's negative effects)
March 5, 2007... NEW YORK-While BlackBerries buzzed with news of Alan Greenspan's warning of a "possible recession" and the worldwide chain-reaction sell-off triggered by the dip in Chinese markets, a panel of mutual fund managers here last Tuesday pitched...

The Never-Ending Scandal: SEI Calls on Fund Firms to Create Stricter Standards.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(National Association of Securities Dealers)
March 5, 2007... If fund companies thought that the days of regulators pressing charges for questionable or illegal mutual fund trading, revenue sharing, gifts, directed brokerage or fund sales were over, they'd better think twice. One need only look to a...

Executive Moves.(Schwab Investor Services)(John Hancock Advisers L.L.C.)(Charles Schwab & Company Inc.)(Securian Financial Network Inc.)
March 5, 2007... Securian Fin'l Promotes Eight Senior Managers Securian Financial Group has promoted eight members of senior management. Dianne Orbison now holds the title of executive vice president, although she will also continue as chief investment...

Week in Review.(American Century Investments Inc.)(Kopp Investment Advisors Inc.)(E*TRADE Financial Corp.)
March 5, 2007... American Century Acquires $225M of Kopp Assets American Century Investments has acquired the mutual fund assets of Kopp Investment Advisors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but American Century has merged the small-cap Kopp Emerging...

Next-Gen Technology to Transform Client Communications.
March 5, 2007... New high-tech offerings-including wireless technology, virtual communication and online communities-are changing the dynamics of how fund companies communicate with customers. "Transparency and technology are going to fundamentally and...

Reserve Took in $935M While Contracts Lapsed.(Reserve Management Company Inc.'s distribution contracts turn void)(Brief article)
March 12, 2007... A follow-up proxy that Reserve Management, the investment advisor to the Reserve Funds and Hallmark Funds, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveals the true cost of the company's error, discovered two years ago. All told,...

Asset Firms' Tech Spending on the Rise: Products, Profits Join Compliance as Catalysts.
March 12, 2007... As technology continues to morph from a businesses support tool to a business development driver, it is also a bigger piece of investment companies' budgets. In a recent survey conducted by SEI and the Investment Advisor Association 60% of...

Funds Continue to Support Management.
March 12, 2007... The fact that fund companies are increasingly voting their proxies in favor of management proposals may be disappointing to shareholder advocates but it comes as no surprise to them. Fund companies continued to vote their proxies...

Ads Target Advisers With Product Array.
March 12, 2007... The competition to win over financial advisers and their clients is heating up. Two investment management firms, Ameriprise Financial of Minneapolis, and Old Mutual Capital of London and Boston, recently launched multimedia ad campaigns...

Legislators Call for Greater 401(k) Fee Transparency; Could Put Billions at Stake.
March 12, 2007... Many industry insiders predicted that a Democratic-controlled Congress would turn its attention to 401(k) fees, and, sure enough, the first hearings on the topic took place last week. More than likely, however, the fund industry will fight...

Executive Moves.
March 12, 2007... American Stock Exchange Promotes Weber, Ebner To EVP, SVP in ETF Unit The American Stock Exchange has promoted Cliff Weber to executive vice president of development strategy and Scott Ebner to senior vice president of exchange-traded...

Bishop' Bomber Expected To Strike With Real Ammo.(meshed brief)(First State Cinda Fund Management introduces new funds)
March 12, 2007... The man who calls himself "The Bishop" and who has sent six threatening letters and two dud pipe bombs over the past 18 months is expected to strike again, the Associated Press reports. One of the pipe bombs was sent to American Century on Jan....

Advisers Favor ETFs, Retract From REITs.
March 12, 2007... Advisers this year remain enthusiastic about exchange-traded funds, but reticent when it comes to real estate investment trusts (REITs), according to a survey of independent investment advisers surveyed by Charles Schwab Institutional of San...

ETFs Expected to Gain Mass Market Traction.
March 12, 2007... Exchange-traded funds may still be relatively unchartered territory to many retail investors, but they are predicted to infiltrate the mass market from the imminent actively managed ETF to the 401(k) marketplace in the coming years. ETFs...

Most Funds Have Avoided Subprime Lenders' Stocks.
March 19, 2007... Although the market was hammered last week by subprime loans, individual mutual funds aren't likely to have much exposure to the volatile sector. Most sub-prime lenders are small-cap companies, and, as such, funds won't have large amounts of...

Conflicts in Side-by-Side Management: Mutual Funds Suffer When Managers Also Run Hedge Funds.
March 19, 2007... What mutual fund investors don't know could hurt them, especially if it's that the manager running their money also operates a hedge fund. Some in the industry believe it's time shareholders be made aware of these potential conflicts of...

Managers Tout Asset Allocation Funds: Slow Market Good Time to Get Message Out.
March 19, 2007... Eight years ago, cocktail parties were less social occasions and more trial-by-fire for Hugh Whelan. "I literally had people tell me that I was obsolete," said The Hartford's executive vice president in charge of allocation funds. But...

Retirement Savings Still Falling Short: Rising Healthcare Costs, Longevity Continue to Raise the Stakes.
March 19, 2007... Although Americans are saving more for retirement, they are still falling short of being adequately prepared due to rising healthcare costs, longevity and dwindling pension funds. Americans are on track to replace 58% of their income in...

As SEC Appears Poised to Weaken Independent Rule, Morningstar Makes Plea.
March 19, 2007... You've got to hand it to Morningstar for sending a strongly worded comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on the validity of independent fund board chairmen-especially as SEC Chairman Christopher Cox appears ready to...

Executive Moves.(appointments)
March 19, 2007... OppenheimerFunds CIO To Also Serve as President Kurt Wolfgruber, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds, has been promoted to president. Wolfgruber will retain his responsibilities as CIO while also taking on the added oversight in...

Week in Review.
March 19, 2007... Legg Mason Launches Corporate Branding Ads Having completed the integration of the money management group from Citigroup, Legg Mason is now trying to showcase the resulting merger with a $4 million corporate print ad campaign, The Wall...

Environmental Concerns Boost SRI Funds.
March 19, 2007... Environmental and human right issues have sparked a renewed interest in socially responsible investing (SRI), and, as a result, assets in these funds will reach $2.5 trillion this year, up 10% from $2.3 trillion in 2005. Over the last decade,...

Electronic Entertainment Index Paves Way for ETF.
March 19, 2007... Think all of the interesting international equity sectors have already been tapped? Not so fast, says Ted Pollak, founder and chief investment officer of EE Fund Management of San Francisco. His firm has created the first international equity...

Most Funds Have Avoided Subprime Lenders' Stocks.
March 26, 2007... Although the market was hammered this month by subprime loans, individual mutual funds aren't likely to have much exposure to the volatile sector. Most subprime lenders are small-cap companies, and, as such, funds won't have large amounts of...

Fund Companies to Be Next XBRL Front: Will Go Beyond Financials to Create Interactive Tools.
March 26, 2007... While more than a dozen pilot companies are minding their interactive Ks and Qs, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox is pushing extensible business reporting language (XBRL) beyond quarterly filings to a new way for...

Accounting Reinterpretation Vexes Funds.
March 26, 2007... Since late 2006, fund executives have been fretting over a past accounting treatment and reinterpretation of an accounting standard for municipal bond funds. At issue is the accounting treatment for a widely used complex derivative...

Gaming Fund Gambles on New Advisor.
March 26, 2007... As it approaches its first birthday, the Gaming and Casino Fund, now managed by Ahrens Advisors of Dallas, is ready to welcome a brand new parent. This week, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, a division of Ladenburg Thalmann of New...

IBM's Plan to Give Advice To 401(k) Participants May Portend Promising Trend.
March 26, 2007... Critics of 401(k) plans say they have failed the nation's workers because they don't equip them with financial advice. Although the Pension Protection Act prescribes giving guidance, it is vague on what it should constitute and, therefore,...

Executive Moves.(appointments)(DLA Piper)
March 26, 2007... ICI Selects Olson as Senior Counsel of Int'l Affairs Susan M. Olson has been named senior counsel of international affairs at the Investment Company Institute. She replaces Robert C. Grohowski, who became senior counsel of securities...

Getting The Most Bang For Exhibition Hall Buck.
March 26, 2007... If you're sitting in your exhibition booth reading this, it's probably time for atonement. Oh, and put down that bagel. On your feet! You've just committed some of the cardinal sins of the conference exhibition hall. Sure, it's the...

Week in Review.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. (New York, New York))(Securities and Exchange Commission will enact laws to prevent frauds related to hedge funds)
March 26, 2007... JPMorgan Finds Flaws in Target-Date Funds' Design Some target-date funds are poorly designed, JPMorgan reports in a new white paper. First, rather than concentrating on providing income to a participant over the course of their retirement...

Expanding Wholesalers' Productivity Beyond Territories.
March 26, 2007... Anthropologist Gregory Bateson wrote about the difference between map and territory in his 1972 book, "Steps to an Ecology of Mind." By this he meant that the maps we hold in our minds, while often useful, can in no way be expected to reflect...