Money Management Executive Latest News

Exchange-traded funds have attracted $35 billion so far this year, far less than in previous years, but growth is likely to return at a rapid clip once the recession winds down, according to Strategic Insight. By comparison, investors have withdrawn $49 billion from mutual funds.

The web-based 401(k) software has created a Plan Management Dashboard that rates plans for sponsors and advisers and how the scores compare to similar plans.

Fidelity Investments is giving its retail and institutional brokerage clients access to the initial public offerings and follow-on equity offerings underwritten by Deutsche Bank.

Between November and March, hedging programs at variable annuity firms supported 94% of their guarantees, up from 93% in the prior period, Milliman said.

UBS has stopped selling leveraged exchange-traded funds, saying that the funds don’t conform to its belief in long-term investing due to the “short-term nature of these securities.”

Securian Retirement is urging sponsors that offer stable-value funds in their 401(k) plan to be aware that there can still be risks in such funds, depending on their holdings and the stability of the financial markets. Such funds need to be monitored, Securian says.

Putnam Investments is planning to cut the fees on many of its funds and tie the fees to the performance of a number of its funds, the company announced Tuesday.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index rose 3.6 points in July 10 119.4, up from 115.8 in June.

After earlier warning that it was concerned about investors holding leveraged exchange-traded funds for 10 days or longer, FINRA, in its latest podcast, appears to be backpedaling.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new Investor Advisor Committee, in its first meeting this coming Monday, will discuss mutual fund point-of-sale and broker fee disclosures as well as fee transparency and other disclosures in 401(k) plans.