Money Management Executive Latest News

BOSTON - Retirement income planners, along with mutual and insurance fund executives, are wracking their brains to come up with new products that are low cost, easy to use and easy to sell.

Dreyfus Corp., a dominant force in money market funds as well as the high-net-worth market through its parent company, Mellon, will become a leader in long-term mutual funds and other investments, if its new chief executive, Jon Baum, meets his goal.

Pointing to illiquidity and poor fair valuation conditions, two ranking Congressmen have asked Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to cut mutual fund portfolio managers a break on redemptions of auction-rate securities.

Absolute-return mutual funds that seek to provide investors with positive returns whether equity markets are rising or falling, are growing in rapid numbers in today's volatile market and hoping to attract a loyal investor following.

Saudi Arabia has launched its first sovereign-wealth fund, aimed at maximizing long-term rates of return.

Rydex Investments has launched a fund of funds that offers exposure to the alternatives marketplace.

John Hancock Funds has elected interim board chairman James Carlin as independent Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Carlin has been a trustee since 1992.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a settlement enforcement action against Bank of America’s Banc of America Investment Services Inc. for failure to disclose it favored two mutual funds.

We are proud to announce this year's Money Management Executive's 6th Annual Fund Operations Awards program. The awards, for Leadership, Innovation, New Media and Innovations/Efficiencies, will be presented in person in September, in Boston. Deadline for entries is July 18, 2008. Detailed entry forms will be available on the newsweekly's home page. We look forward to hearing from entrants as well as those interested in serving on the judging panel. For more information: elizabeth.barney@sourcemedia.com. -- Thank you, Lee Barney, Editor.

While flows to money market mutual funds increased at an alarming rate in the first quarter of the year (see MME “Money Funds Seeing Huge Inflows, Opportunities,” this week’s issue), assets fell by $34.53 billion in the week ended Tuesday, according to data from iMoneyNet’s Money Fund Report.