Practice

Selling funds through mutual fund supermarkets may start taking a larger bite out of profits for the companies which advise mutual funds.

PNC Bank has made several improvements, including the addition of new fund families, to Vested Interest, its bundled 401(k) product.

The performance of 78 percent of the approximately 500 existing closed-end funds will most likely soon be published daily, providing a boost to the popularity of the product.

Faced with growing account balances, 401(k) plan participants are increasingly demanding more help making retirement plan decisions, according to several industry experts.

The fight between Donald Yacktman and the independent directors of his funds is likely to continue this month, propelled in part by intervention from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prudential Investments is teaming up with BISYS to provide two new retirement plans for small businesses.

Representatives of the mutual fund industry are moving quietly in Massachusetts to enact a law which would help define what makes a mutual fund director independent, an increasingly contentious issue.

The practice of paying brokers fees to reward them for maintaining assets under management for as long as possible may be resurfacing even as regulators weigh whether the practice warrants increased oversight.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has amended its by-laws to require the executive representatives of each member organization to maintain e-mail accounts for communications with NASD. The new requirement becomes effective Jan. 1, 1999.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the self-regulatory body governing the accounting industry, has adopted a change in the accounting method closed-end fund advisers must use that will reduce these companies' profits. The rules apply to funds that lack 12b-1 or contingent deferred sales charges (fees paid when a shareholder redeems his shares). These include closed-end and privately-placed funds.