Alternative investments

From positive outlooks for ETFs to asset managers in Asia gaining a greater portion of pay from net sales, here's top news impacting mutual fund and ETF managers and providers.

New funds provide hedging tools to limit or amplify clients' currency exposure on their foreign investments.

From FINRA fining two firms to U.S. listed ETFs seeing inflows of $27.94 billion, here's top news impacting mutual fund and ETF managers and providers.

FINRA found that LPL didn’t have a reasonable system in place to determine whether purchases of alternatives would cause a customer’s account to be unsuitably concentrated.

Variable annuity net new sales are expected to surge in the coming years after taking a dive in 2012, according to research firm Cerulli Associates.

IMCA and CAIA are teaming up to fill in a knowledge gap about alternative investments, offering a new online education program that teaches the basics to the uninitiated.

RCS Capital is following through on its promise to launch a research division with the hiring of two non-traded investments analysts.

Vanguard Group, the third- largest U.S. provider of exchange-traded funds, has asked regulators for permission to open actively-managed ETFs.

Weekly Update: From BlackRock launching a new iShares ETF to net inflows of $27.94 billion for long-term funds.

Only a few years ago, the top three fund families in the U.S. were nearly identical in size. Not any more.

The focus on dual registrants grows out of concern that the different compensation structures of the two business lines can create conflicts of interest and potentially harm investors, according to an SEC director.

U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed near a record, investors awaited testimony from the Federal Reserve’s Janet Yellen and tension increased in Ukraine.

The location of the National Credit Union Administration suits its place in the hierarchy of U.S. financial regulators.

Firm's partners say they wanted 'control of our destiny -- we wanted to own our own equity.'

Gold held losses after a two-day drop on expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to taper stimulus in the U.S. and as holdings in the largest exchange-traded fund shrank by the most in two months.

Over the past few years, one of the fastest-growing segments of the registered mutual fund industry has been in the alternatives space, with "alternatives" being something of a catch-all term for funds focusing on non-traditional asset classes or strategies that had previously been the domain of institutional investors and hedge funds. The number of these funds has skyrocketed, driven in large part by strong demand from retail investors and advisors for investment strategies that offer less correlation to the broad equity and bond markets.

The transformation of fee and distribution models that asset managers must address to compete are some of the primary game-changers impacting mutual fund and ETFs.

Investors may almost triple the amount of capital they put into hedge funds this year, boosting industry assets to a record, an annual survey by Deutsche Bank showed.

Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital made hedge-fund investors the most money for the second straight year in 2013.

U.S. stocks advanced as investors assessed corporate earnings and data showing factory orders fell less than estimated in December.