Portfolio

Putnam Investments has launched a new advertising campaign with the tagline, “This is Putnam Today.”

When a 401(k) participant goes to the trouble of selecting investment choices, they don’t expect them to shift over to a default option, but that’s exactly what happens frequently when a sponsors switches recordkeepers or provider, The Wall Street Journal reports. Because the offering lineup is not the same as the old plan, the only logical thing to do is to place the money in a safe default.

Long-term mutual funds netted $8.34 billion in inflows in the week ended July 1, the Investment Company Institute said, marking the 16th straight week of inflows, which total $160 billion.

Citing a steep decline in the pace of redemptions, Man Group said that a year-long exodus of client money is slowing. Assets fell only 7.5% in the second quarter, from $46.8 billion to $43.3 billion, whereas at the end of the second quarter of 2008, assets were 45% high, at $79.5 billion.

Lori Richards is stepping down as head of the office of compliance inspections and examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, a role she held since its creation in 1995. She joined the SEC in 1985. Upon her departure on Aug. 7, Associate Director and Chief Counsel John Walsh will take her place.

In a survey of 3,129 financial intermediaries on their opinions of leading mutual fund companies, the top three rated brands are American Funds, Barclays iShares and Ivy Funds, kasina and Horsesmouth found.

It could take as long as five years for asset managers around the world to recoup the $10 trillion they lost in 2008, according to a report by Cerulli, which calls the global meltdown “of near-biblical proportions.”

With faith restored in the global asset management industry, due to a four-month stock market rally and more voices saying the economy is on the mend, mergers and acquisitions in the industry will see a brisk pace in the second half of the year, Jefferies Putnam Lovell says.

Active traders are largely optimistic about the market and the economy, Charles Schwab found in a survey of 260 investors. Eighty-one percent said they are either bullish or neutral on the market over the next six months, virtually unchanged since the last survey in February.

Investors will continue to be afraid of losing hard-earned money and gravitate to fixed-income and other safe investments, The Boston Consulting Group predicts. As a result, investment management firms need to offer new portfolios and, with fees on these offerings undoubtedly lower than aggressive, actively managed funds, they will have to cut costs even further.