Money Management Executive Latest News

Sun Life Financial is selling its 401(k) retirement administration business, Sun Life Retirement Services, to Hartford Financial Services Group for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.

Charles Schwab has issued eight New Year’s resolutions that investors can apply to their 401(k), with focusing on long-term goals No. 1 on the list. Even if the economy cools and money is harder to come by, Schwab says, “try to avoid reducing or ceasing regular 401(k) contributions.”

In the first six months that Zhao Zifeng took over the China International Fund Management’s $1.6 billion Sitico Morgan First Growth Fund, assets doubled, but a six-week slide that began in October have since taken 20% of profits off of the table and shaken the 37-year-old Zhao confidence somewhat, Today Singapore reports.

Although financial advisers acknowledge that the market and economy face a challenging environment, a scant 1% believe that a recession is very likely next year, and only 26% say that 10% or fewer of their clients have expressed fears of a recession, according to an OppenheimerFunds survey.

The use of generic, off-the-shelf compliance programs by asset management firms is a mistake, according to Gene Gohlke, associate director of the office of compliance inspections and examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors in two Morgan Keegan Asset Management bond mutual funds have filed a federal lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in the western district of Tennessee seeking class-action status and a jury trial, and many in the industry are expecting additional suits in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reports. Already, State Street is facing a similar lawsuit of its own.

Just as the oncoming adjustment from accumulation of assets to decumulation is stumping asset management firms and advisers in the U.S., the U.K. is facing the same challenges.

The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index declined 1.61% in November but is up 10.53% year-to-date, outpacing equities both for the month and the year, according to Greenwich Alternative Investments.

A new breed of managed account solutions called the model portfolio, which is the next generation of separately managed accounts, is highlighting their tax benefits, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Assets in managed accounts, which include separately managed accounts and also mutual fund advisory programs, representatives as portfolio managers, exchange-traded funds and other instruments that are sold through programs or platforms, reached $1.503 trillion in the third quarter, up 19.6% from $1.256 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2006, the Money Management Institute reports.