Portfolio

AIM Management Group of Houston, Texas has announced that it has formed AIM Private Asset Management, a new subsidiary that will market customized portfolios to high-net-worth and institutional clients.

The Orbitex Group of Funds of New York last week introduced the Orbitex Life Sciences & Biotechnology Fund. Orbitex' first interval fund will invest in small- to mid-sized companies in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical research and biotechnology research, development and implementation, the company said.

MaxFunds.com of Ann Arbor, Mich., a website that tracks small and new mutual funds, has launched 12 portfolios of securities that will be managed by investment professionals whose investment decisions will be available to consumers for a $2 monthly fee, said Jim Atkinson, president of MaxFunds.com.

Of the ten new streetTRACKS exchange-traded funds introduced this month, one in particular has caught the fund industry's attention for its ground-breaking nature.

Online banking will soon no longer be the only means of paying bills over the Internet. At least two mutual fund companies are now building the capabilities to allow investors to pay bills online from their money market fund accounts.

Fidelity Investments of Boston and American Century of Kansas City, Mo. both announced last week that in light of the Electronic Signatures Act taking effect on Oct. 1, they would accept new applications online, without handwritten signatures of any kind. Neither firm is requiring signatures, either at the time of an account opening or later, on hard copies via fax or the mail.

Mutual fund firms are considering offering hedge funds and related products in order to prevent portfolio managers from leaving to work for existing hedge funds, said industry executives.

NEW YORK - While exchange-traded funds are expected to grow rapidly in the near future, their growth will be hampered by numerous obstacles.

MetaMarkets.Com of San Francisco filed with the SEC Sept. 8 for a new fund that will invest in IPO's and new companies involved in developing products the company believes will lead to technological, social and economic change, according to the SEC filing.

Exchange-traded funds could turn out to be "the most significant new product category" of the decade, according to Financial Research Corp. of Boston. They will "continue their recent dramatic growth rate for many years to come," according to a recent FRC report. Any fund complex that wants to appeal to a broad investor base should probably add the products to its offerings, the report said.