Portfolio

Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, the convergence between traditional and alternative products has been widely discussed, with ramifications expected to affect the industry in a significant fashion.

NEWS SCAN

'Tis the season when the leaves change, the National Football League is kicking its season into second gear, the Yankees are once again chasing another championship, and...yes, there's another mutual fund conference to attend.

Curian, Putnam Investments and the John Hancock Funds have won top honors in the 10th Annual NOVA Awards, which honor outstanding leadership and achievement in mutual fund operations and marketing.

Mutual fund companies are increasingly taking on the mindset of hedge funds, as they seek to offer clients access to alternative investments such as commodities or real estate and strategies like absolute return investing and combinations of going long on some stocks and selling others short.

In the past three years, bond funds have been raking in the assets.

ClearBridge Advisors the largest manager of equity funds at parent company Legg Mason, apparently wants to cut the apron strings, announcing it would drop the “Legg Mason” name from all its U.S. funds over the next few months.

Asset managers spend more than 80 percent of their technology dollars simply maintaining existing operations. With regulatory changes and trading spanning more types of assets, “the buy side has a situation of underinvestment which is unsustainable,’’ research firm Celent said.

Bruce Bent Sr. took the stand Thursday afternoon in a New York City courtroom, defending his actions during the 2008 financial crisis as his $62 billion Reserve Primary Fund—the world’s first money market mutual fund—imploded after making an unfortunate bet on the debt of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Capital Guardian LLC, a Charlotte, N.C., based boutique wealth manager, announced Tuesday it added a former LPL Financial team to its independent channel.