Practice

When Peter Scannell appeared before Congress to testify about market timing at Putnam Investments, he hardly appeared the picture of a valiant hero. Scannell was somewhat incoherent, his written testimony riddled with misspellings, according to one of our reporters who was there.

Three former top executives at mutual fund advisory and broker/dealer firm Mutuals.com of Dallas, are reportedly in settlement negotiations with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York over criminal securities and wire fraud charges dating back three years.

Fidelity Investments has a bold, five-year plan to expand its scant 8.5% share of the 403(b) market and catch up to giant TIAA-CREF, which commands a monumental 67% share of 403(b) assets.

When Peter Scannell appeared before Congress to testify about market timing at Putnam Investments, he hardly appeared the picture of a valiant hero. Scannell was somewhat incoherent, his written testimony riddled with misspellings, according to one of our reporters who was there.

Americans are starting to live a lot longer than they ever thought they would, throwing a wrench in retirement fund plans that they thought would last them the rest of their life.

The "Show Me" State of Missouri is about to show the 529 college savings plan marketplace just how innovative it can be.

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled its civil lawsuit against hedge fund Durus Capital Management and its principal, Scott R. Sacane, on fraud charges. The judgment includes injunctions against future violations of the federal securities laws.

The Department of Labor estimates that automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans, as protected under the Pension Protection Act, will add between $45 billion to $90 billion a year to the plans, which had $3.6 trillion in assets under management in 2006, according to the Investment Company Institute.

So-called target-date and target-risk asset allocation funds portend to make investing easier for 401(k) participants, but the proliferation of these products in recent years can make choosing which to offer a headache for sponsors.

BISYS Fund Services may be all but history now with various servicing units having been parceled out to other acquiring firms. But troubles are still brewing among at least some of the 27 mutual fund clients that the firm had questionable distribution arrangements with dating back to the 1990s. And now, fund advisors are opening their wallets in an effort to make investors whole.