Practice

Reserve Funds has added insult to injury, literally, to the investors in its Primary Fund. The fund, which broke the buck on Sept. 16 and has been struggling to return investors’ assets ever since, is now valuing the remaining balance at 98.5 cents per share.

Contrary to widely held beliefs in the annuity and insurance industries that they are poised to cash in on the 78 million retiring Baby Boomers, a new report from Diversified Services Group finds that mutual funds are positioning themselves to do a better job of serving this market.

The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission reminded fund companies that with all of the staffing and operational cutbacks taking place, compliance is an area where shortcuts cannot be tolerated.

Target-date funds may certainly be increasing in popularity, but the tools to help financial advisers sort through the available choices are sorely lacking. That was the finding of a recent poll of 168 advisers to defined contribution plans, conducted by Harris Interactive for JPMorgan Funds.

CIBC announced Friday that it has finally settled 2004 charges that former trader Paul Flynn permitted hedge funds to market time mutual funds.

Don't believe the retirement income hype.

First the good news. The average 401(k) plan balance is down only 14% this year to $68,000 from $79,000 in 2007, according to Hewitt Associates. And since the precipitous decline in the stock market of the past few months, only 4% of participants have decided to stop contributing.

Reserve Funds will distribute $14 billion to investors in the Primary Fund on or around Dec. 5.

Massachusetts lost another 7,000 in October, the worst month for the state’s labor market since March 2005, the Patriot Ledger reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed two- to four-page mutual fund prospectus profiles will only provide investors with the “quick-and-dirty lowdown,” charges Dow Jones columnist Chuck Jaffe. “It seems a bit inappropriate to have investment decisions based on information that can accurately be called ‘quick and dirty,’ rather than ‘thorough and complete,’” Jaffe said.