Money Management Executive articles from September 2006

Money Management Executive archives from September 2006

American Funds Fined For Directed Brokerage.(American Funds Distributors )(Brief article)
September 11, 2006... The NASD fined American Funds Distributors $5 million on Aug. 30 for violating the NASD anti-reciprocal rule that precludes investment companies from directing trades to brokerage firms in exchange for preferential sales treatment for their...

DB(k) Plans to Offer Opportunity in 2010: Until Then, Companies Await Clarification.(benefit/defined contribution plans)
September 11, 2006... Starting in 2010, millions of American workers could get the chance to have their retirement savings cake and eat it, too. The 2006 Pension Protection Act allows for businesses with 500 employees or fewer to offer hybrid defined...

Funds Flows on Track to Outpace 2005.
September 11, 2006... The mutual fund industry has seen strong inflows thus far this year, and the market outlook appears stable for the rest of the year, pointing to a generally promising outlook for 2006, according to a report from Strategic Insight of New York....

New Directors Forum Exec Speaks Out.(Interview)
September 11, 2006... As the new executive director of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum in Washington, Susan Ferris Wyderko hopes to help independent fund directors do their job better and increase the not-for-profit organizations responsiveness to directors needs....

Edward Jones Pays $127M In Revenue-Sharing Suits.
September 11, 2006... Edward D. Jones reached a tentative settlement on nine class-action lawsuits for not telling investors it accepted revenue-sharing payments from mutual fund companies to promote their funds. The settlement still must be approved by the United...

Hedge Funds Demanding Innovative Technology.
September 11, 2006... Hedge funds are beginning to demand new and innovative technology, and their investment in IT is expected to reach $3.3 billion by 2009, according to a Datamonitor report. Hedge funds globally will look to use technology to improve...

John Hancock Launches Back-to-School 529 Drive.(John Hancock College Savings )(Brief article)
September 11, 2006... With students returning to school and media interest in 529 college savings plans renewed by the new pension bill, John Hancock College Savings has launched a seven-week campaign to promote its 529 plan, which it offers through Alaska. The...

Executive Moves.(appointment of Christian Mango as an external wholesaler in Touchstone Investments)(Ancora Advisors recruits three senior executives)(AIG Retirement promotes Christine A. Nixon as senior vice president and general counsel)
September 11, 2006... Mango Joins Touchstone As External Wholesaler Christian Mango has joined Touchstone Investments as an external wholesaler, responsible for the state of New York. He comes to the company from IXIS Asset Management, where he was regional...

More Firms Set Up In-House TV Studios.
September 11, 2006... While a number of fund companies set up in-house TV studios during the heady 1990s to take advantage of the booming market, a second wave of firms building studios has begun. But this time, the main objective is to compete and distinguish...

Poor Little Rich Guy: Affluent Unprepared for Retirement.(affluent Americans )
September 11, 2006... It turns out, affluent Americans are not so different from the Average Joe. Both laugh when they are tickled. Both bleed when they are cut. And neither prepares adequately for retirement, according to a recent study conducted by MFS...

Fidelity Sees 401(k) Growth Even Without New Law.
September 11, 2006... Fidelity Investments expects its Advisor 401(k) platform to maintain its strong recent growth pace but says it does not look for an extra boost from recently enacted pension legislation. The Boston mutual fund giant said that assets in its...

43% of Small Businesses Avoid 401(k)s Due to Costs.(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... After surveying 1,000 small business owners with no more than 20 employees about 401(k)s, Fidelity Investments found that 43% don't want to offer them because they mistakenly think they are too expensive. Another 26% cited fiduciary...

B/Ds: Window to a Hedge Fund's Soul: Regulators to Look for Suspicious Trading Behavior.(broker/dealers )(Linda Chatman Thomsen-Securities and Exchange Commission)
September 18, 2006... NEW YORK-As regulators move toward more data-intensive investigations, the relationship between hedge funds and their broker/dealers will receive increased scrutiny, said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the Securities and Exchange...

Hedge Fund to Challenge SEC, Again: Denial of 13f Regulatory Exemption to Prompt New Lawsuit.
September 18, 2006... Phillip Goldstein, the hedge fund manager and self-professed shareholder activist and partner of Bulldog Investors of Pleasantville, N.Y., is set to duke it out again with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a battle that could eventually...

Fee Settlements Won't Shake Investors: But Fund Firms Likely to Shy From Performance Fees.
September 18, 2006... The recent performance-fee settlements between five fund companies and the Securities and Exchange Commission will probably not shake investor confidence, but, shareholder advocates worry, they might rattle the companies considering adopting...

Fund Firms Fail to Provide Wealth Transfer Tools.(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Less than a third of mutual fund companies are providing financial advisers with useful wealth transfer tools and education-causing both to miss out on a potentially huge market due to the transfer of much of the nation's retirement wealth from...

American Century to Buy Two Kopp Mutual Funds.
September 18, 2006... American Century Investments will acquire Kopp Investment Advisors' two mutual funds, which have a value of $300 million to $350 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kopp said it agreed to the sale so that it can focus on its core...

Bank of America to Sell Two Funds to ALPS.(Banc of America Investment Services Inc.)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Bank of America Investment Advisors, adviser to the Liberty All-Star Funds, has agreed to sell the two portfolios to ALPS Advisers. The portfolios are related closed-end equity funds-the Liberty All-Star Equity Fund, which had $1.2 billion of...

Executive Moves.(MassMutual - Bill O'Grady)(BISYS - Paul Yelicanin )(CitiStreet - Eric Roberts)
September 18, 2006... O'Grady Joins MassMutual As Senior Vice President Bill O'Grady has joined MassMutual as senior vice president of distribution, a new position in which he will oversee the distribution of all of MassMutual's products and services by the...

Fund Execs Forecast Economic Slowdown.(executives)
September 18, 2006... Fund executives and portfolio managers are sounding off again in the latest round of annual and semi-annual reports recently filed for the period ended June. While many foresee a moderate economic slowdown, some fear a bear market is on the...

Legg Mason Exits South Dakota's 529 Plan.
September 18, 2006... Yet another consolidation has occurred in the competitive college savings plan market. South Dakota, the state best known for Mount Rushmore, is the latest to see its two plans merge into a single plan. Legg Mason of Baltimore has dropped...

Three MetLife Firms Fined In NASD Trading Inquiry.(MetLife Securities)(New England Securities)(Walnut Street Securities)(National Association of Securities Dealers)
September 25, 2006... The NASD last Tuesday fined three MetLife Securities companies $5 million for allowing late trading of mutual funds, providing inaccurate and misleading information to the NASD and failing to produce e-mails in a timely fashion. The three...

Hedge Funds Move Into Political Arena.
September 25, 2006... With U.S. midterm elections approaching fast, in a year where experts predict shakeups in the House and Senate, politicians across the nation are working on polishing their rhetoric and preparing the platforms that reflect the issues that...

Morgan Board Tweaks Committees, Pay.(Morgan Stanley Funds)
September 25, 2006... Morgan Stanley Funds' board of directors is tweaking both its board committee structure as well as the compensation that independent trustees receive for serving as chairpersons of committees. As of next week, independent trustees who serve as...

Funds Fail to Address Wealth Transfer.
September 25, 2006... While mutual fund companies focus on the upcoming wave of the nation's 77 million retiring Baby Boomers and how to capture that business, they're overlooking another inevitable seismic event. Those Baby Boomers will bequeath an estimated...

Putnam Parent to Slash 750 Jobs to Save $350M.
September 25, 2006... Putnam Investments parent Marsh & McLennan plans to slash 750 employees from its payroll and undertake several other cost-cutting initiatives, including consolidating locations and retooling its information technology teams. By the end of 2008,...

Market-Timing Probe To Shift to Individuals.(New York Stock Exchange )(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... The New York Stock Exchange and other regulators are shifting the focus of their market-timing investigations from mutual fund companies and hedge funds to individual brokers and their supervisors, according to Susan Merrill chief of...

Executive Moves.(Sun Life Financial- Ronald H. Friesen )(American Century Investments - Maryanne Roepke )(JPMorgan Fund Services- Mark Kelley )
September 25, 2006... Sun Life Financial Selects Friesen as CFO in U.S. Sun Life Financial has promoted Ronald H. Friesen to serve as the chief financial officer of its U.S. division. He is currently vice president, corporate capital in Sun Life's international...

Managers Don't See All Gloom and Doom in 2007.
September 25, 2006... NEW YORK-Rising interest rates, a sagging housing market, and inscrutable energy prices all blur into a bleak outlook for 2007. But fund managers at Lipper's "Lipper Leaders" symposium last week said there's money to be made for investors. It...

Performance-Based Fees Not Likely to Gain Traction.
September 25, 2006... Performance-based fees are scarce in the mutual fund industry and most likely will remain so, due to the complexity of managing them, the lack of industry standards and the fact that they tend to reward portfolio managers more than they do...

BNP Paribas' Eyes US Retail Banks.
September 25, 2006... (Excerpted from sister publication IDD) Over breakfast in late August on the morning BNP Paribas would announce its June earnings, CFO Phillipe Bordenave contentedly told the bank's story. Beginning with its strength in the European league...