Portfolio

Sixty-five percent of 160 socially responsible mutual funds from members of the Social Investment Forum outperformed their benchmarks in 2009, most by significant margins, the forum said.

Lower participation in employee-sponsored retirement plans is proving to be the challenge.

Investors Flee Cash in Droves

Long-term equity, bond and hybrid funds reaped $14.35 billion in the week ended Jan. 13, bringing the 44-week sales streak total to $441 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

The leading mutual fund brand in the nation is Vanguard and the leading distributor is Charles Schwab, 4,000 affluent and high-net-worth investors told Cogent Research in a recent survey. In both categories, Fidelity, which had previously held first place since Cogent started the research in 2006, was knocked to second.

Third-quarter annuity commissions rose 12.9% to $669.8 million from the previous quarter.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. has enhanced its mutual fund services to include 529 college savings plan information in a streamlined manner for broker/dealers and other financial distributors. New functionality has been added to the transactional hub Fund/SERVE and to network account reconciliation.

Its largest segment, the private-client group, increased revenue 10% but lending woes in its banking unit hampered results for the quarter.

However, the full year results for the division weren’t quite so rosy.

The incoming CEO has a clear preference to make acquisitions in Europe and Asia.