Portfolio

WASHINGTON-Regulators, employers and the financial services industry must work together to expand the use of 401(k) plans and increase worker participation, the Investment Company Institute's President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens told attendees at the ICI's 50th Annual General Membership Meeting on May 7.

Four years ago, the board of directors of the Gabelli Funds conducted a thorough investigation into charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that market timing had occurred in its funds, according to a release the invesment manager issued last week on behalf former principal Marc Gabelli, who is now under investigation.

WASHINGTON - Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been growing by leaps and bounds lately, but you ain't seen nothin' yet, said a panel of executives involved in creating and distributing ETFs, speaking at the Investment Company Institute's general membership meeting here two weeks ago.

The mood at the Investment Company Institute's 50th Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, themed "Our Foundations, Our Future," was markedly upbeat. Certainly, this is welcome and refreshing, especially following the dot-com crash of 2000-2001, the mutual fund scandals of 2003-2005 and this year's subprime credit crisis hitting the financial services industry and Wall Street, in particular, so hard.

WASHINGTON - The general consensus among financial experts is that target-date funds are better suited for the majority of 401(k) investors than money market funds. Only problem is, the passive participant seems to have little interest in making changes to their plan, especially if they were automatically enrolled into it.

Until recently, getting a guaranteed income in retirement meant buying an annuity.

AXA Distributors, LLC has appointed Joanne Pietrini-Smith as chief operating officer of AXA Partners, its life insurance business.

U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management has announced four appointments in Boston, in the latest of nearly 20 additions to the New England area in the last nine months.

A lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that more than 30 firms spent in excess of $3 million over the course of three years to lure the business of Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has formally proposed that all U.S. companies use interactive data tagging when they provide financial information.