Money Management Executive Latest News

Bank of America has shut the Columbia Strategic Cash Portfolio, a fund for institutional investors, to new investors due to massive losses in the past few months that were spurred by asset-backed securities, depleting its holdings to $12 billion, down from $20 billion, the Associated Press reports.

While the hedge fund industry received $16 billion in new assets in October, the inflow rate was the lowest since January, with investors pulling an estimated $2.8 billion out of direct hedge fund investments, according to a release from TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge.

Fund managers are beginning to offer a wide variety of municipal bond exchange-traded funds, but most small investors have yet to take advantage of these new products, primarily because they tend to hold muni bonds throughout their duration.

Responding to their customers’ increased appetite for more sophisticated and flexible investment choices and search for more personalized attention, financial advisers plan to recommend mutual funds 10% less frequently, with the share of their clients’ portfolios invested in them declining by 35% to 31% by 2009. That’s according to a survey of 1,266 advisers that Cogent Research conducted in October.

Confidence among affluent investors and millionaires declined last month.

The Zero Alpha Group continues to hammer away at broker-sold mutual funds with its fifth annual report analyzing the returns of funds purchased through brokers versus those purchased directly.

MassMutual will be the exclusive sponsor of a documentary on preparing for retirement that will air nationally on PBS stations across the U.S. this coming April.

NEW YORK-The process of selecting mutual funds is changing as wholesalers' clout diminishes, according to panel members who spoke at a National Investment Company Service Association seminar for distribution executives here last week.

NEW YORK-Millions of Americans will be looking for 401(k) investment advice as they prepare for retirement, but until gaps are filled in relation to conflict-of-interest liability, most 401(k) administrators and sponsors will remain reluctant to offer guidance.

The subprime crisis has proved that mutual fund executives should reassess their risk management procedures, according to a Tower Group report called "Multifunctional Integration: The Positive Side of Risk."