Money Management Executive Latest News

The financial turmoil in the markets is far from over, and mutual fund firms can expect assets to continue to decline further, investors to remain skittish, and regulators to be reactive well into 2009, experts say.

In a widely anticipated move last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously approved a requirement for mutual funds to send investors a short-form, summary prospectus.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wants to beef up hedge fund regulation as part of his plan for a systemic risk regulator, he said Thursday.

OppenheimerFunds has appointed William F. Glavin, Jr. as CEO, effective January 1. Current Chairman and CEO John V. Murphy will remain the chairman and continue to serve as president and a director/trustee of the funds until his retirement at the end of next year.

Americans’ consumer attitudes and behaviors have shifted dramatically in the past six months, according to an October study by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.

Reserve Funds has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury’s Temporary Guarantee Agreement Program for Money Market Funds, whereby the Treasury will purchase any outstanding securities in the Reserve U.S. Government Fund not sold by January 3.

MFS told 90 people, 5% of its workforce of 1,800, they were being laid off on Thursday, Investment News reports.

With sales plummeting in the U.K., Fidelity International is preparing to lay off 300 people, or 14% of its staff of 2,100, The Evening Standard reports.

Investors withdrew $40 billion of assets from hedge funds in October, Dow Jones reports. Coupled with a $115 billion decline in holdings during the month, the $155 billion hit was the worst one-month decline in assets on record with Hedge Fund Research. By comparison, hedge funds lost $210 billion in the third quarter.

With investment banking and trading being two of the areas hardest hit within the 160,000 financial services jobs lost around the world, many analysts will find themselves unemployed as well, the International Herald Tribune reports.