Portfolio

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to launch its new office of municipal securities by the end of October, chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony presented to the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes rose slightly as an influx of new-issue supply weighed on municipals.

Robert Reynolds, the company’s chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday that Putnam has offered 529 plans for 10 years, but this plans will take a broader national approach.

UMB Financial Corp. has added a leg to its distribution structure for health savings accounts.

The Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America has honored McDonald’s for having the best retirement plan, in its inaugural Plan Sponsor of the Year Award.

Dodge and Cox has launched the Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds-International Stock Fund, an Ireland-domiciled UCITS (undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities).

Boston firm brings its institutional strategies to high-net worth individuals.

Equity funds continue to lose assets, with redemptions totaling $1.9 billion in the week ended Sept. 22.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has quietly hired the head-hunting firm Korn/Ferry ­International to find candidates to lead a new municipal securities office that will have a higher stature within the SEC.

The return of bank profitability, coupled with some of the provisions of the federal stimulus, coaxed banks to buy state and local government debt in the first half.