Alternative investments

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

BOSTON -- After all these years, mutual fund companies still don't understand their distribution partners, sales executives say. But before fund executives try to improve on their current models, they need to realize that distribution channels are changing yet again as investment advisers seek lower-cost, laser-focused solutions.

BOSTON -- Mutual fund companies must stay on top of their compliance programs, particularly because Congress is likely to pass new financial regulations, executives warn.

ProFunds has launched two exchange-traded funds that will leverage U.S. Treasuries, the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury and ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury funds.

Financial institutions will increase information technology spending 2.9% in 2010, after cutting budgets by 2.5% in 2009, according to research and consulting firm Celent.

DST Systems and Blue Frog Solutions have partnered on an annuity order management compliance solution for independent intermediaries, through DST Vision.

Last year was a record year for breakaway brokers and this year could be even stronger, according to an executive at Fidelity Investments.

New York Life Insurance has committed $100,000 in donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for Haiti and has pledged $150,000 in matching contributions to this and other charities serving Haiti made by both employees and agents, for a potential total donation of $400,000.

Despite the fact investors are more conservative after getting slammed by the recession, advisers and their clients are optimistic about the year ahead, with advisers looking to grow their business and improve their use of technology.

A new survey by the Investment Company Institute finds that most Americans are still confident that their 401(k) plans can help them reach their retirement goals, but last year's 31% average drop in account balances has also highlighted the need for improvements to this popular, critical retirement vehicle.

The fundamentals of what advisers need from wholesalers are changing, and wholesalers have no choice but to adapt. Our research at kasina concludes that wholesalers should focus on serving advisers' needs for:

The mutual fund industry should proudly celebrate Americans' 73% approval rating for 401(k)s, according to an Investment Company Institute report, "Enduring Confidence in the 401(k) System."

NEW YORK -- It's difficult to determine what something is worth if no one is buying or selling it.

The mutual fund industry should proudly celebrate Americans' 73% approval rating for 401(k)s, according to an Investment Company Institute report, "Enduring Confidence in the 401(k) System."

REITs were the best-performing equity category of the past decade, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

AXA Distributors, the annuity wholesale distribution unit of AXA Equitable, has created a comprehensive retirement income planning curriculum for financial professionals it is calling “Cracking the Code.”

Assets in exchange-traded funds around the world now surpass $1 trillion, soaring an astounding 45.2% from $710.9 billion at the end of 2008 to $1.032 trillion at the end of last year, BlackRock reported. By comparison, the return on the MSCI World Index in that timeframe was 27%, indicating that a good percentage of that growth was driven by inflows.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed five individuals to specialize in various areas of investigation and has also created an Office of Market Intelligence to compile the hundreds of thousands of tips, complaints and referrals that the SEC receives each year.

Fidelity Investments’ venture capital unit has broken off from the fund giant to form an independent firm called Volition Capital. It will continue to manage its previous portfolio of 20 U.S. companies. Going forward, it will invest primarily in high-potential, founder-owned technology companies.

With an increasing number of fund companies offering actively managed exchange-traded funds, including John Hancock, T. Rowe Price and PIMCO, this could be the new hot mutual fund category, some executives told Seeking Alpha.