Money Management Executive Latest News

The Lincoln Financial Group has named Lisa Marie DeSimone to the position of vice president of corporate development, effective April 1. She was previously a senior vice president and senior financial services officer at Lincoln's affiliate Delaware Investments.DeSimone will report to Chief Financial Officer Fred Crawford and will be responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing merger, acquisition and divestiture activities."With her knowledge of Lincoln Financial and background in both the insurance and asset management industries, Lisa is an ideal fit for this position and will play an instrumental part in executing our growth strategy across business lines," said Crawford.DeSimone previously worked for Smith Barney/Citigroup, as well as the A.M. Best Company and The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. She has a bachelor's degree in finance from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

China's securities regulator has approved the creation of three new mutual funds in an effort to bolster the country's sagging stock markets, the Xinhua news agency reports.New Century was approved for a stock fund and Lion and Changsheng were approved for funds that can have a stock/bond mixture.China's benchmark index Shanghai composite closed at a seven-month low of 3,962.673 on Friday.

The Investment Company Institute said total money market mutual fund assets rose for the week ending March 12 by $6.46 billion to $3.454 trillion.Retail money market mutual fund assets rose by $5.55 billion to $1.246 trillion, taxable money market fund assets in the retail category rose by $3.17 billion to $951.36 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets rose by $2.37 billion to $294.66 billion.Institutional money market fund assets rose by $913 million to $2.208 trillion, taxable money market fund assets fell by $1.98 billion to $2.027 trillion, and tax-exempt fund assets rose by $2.89 billion to $180.99 billion.Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc., said the seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds fell from 2.78% on March 4 to 2.73% on March 11. The 30-day average yield fell from 2.96% to 2.88% during the same period.The seven-day compounded yield fell from 2.82% to 2.77%, while the 30-day compounded yield fell from 3.01% to 2.92%. The average maturity of portfolios held by money funds was 42 days, up from 41 days, Money Fund said.

The majority of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal say the U.S. has finally slid into a recession.

Investors still have room for improvements in disclosure, transparency and shareowner influence on executive pay practices, according to an investment advocacy group.

The mutual fund industry in Mexico is poised for growth in the coming years as average household incomes increase and Mexican investors change their savings habits, according to Business News Americas.

Fund.com Inc. has appointed Philip Gentile as the institutional and consumer financial services company’s chief operating officer.

Chinese mutual funds posted moderate gains in February after declining more than seven percent in January, according to a recent report.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has given final approval to a $14 million settlement against New York Life Insurance Co. by employees who said the company’s retirement plans were improperly invested into mutual funds owned by New York Life.

Janus Capital Group Inc. has announced the appointments of three investment management executives to its board of directors.