Money Management Executive Latest News

The membership base of The Advertising Research Foundation has become far broader, with Fidelity Investments, Prudential, Citibank and Capitol One among the newest members of this group whose mission is to help advertisers more effectively reach customers through new media. The National Football League and HBO also recently joined.

Claims by 11 additional investors who lost a combined $62 billion have been filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority against Bear Stearns over the $1.6 billion collapse of two hedge funds it managed, Reuters reports.

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.

Vanguard Group has launched the Vanguard Market Neutral Fund. The fund, created through the recent reorganization of the Laudus Rosenberg U.S. Large/Mid Capitalization Long/Short Equity Fund, is expected to appeal primarily to endowments, foundations, and other institutional investors, the company said.

A number of managers of international and emerging markets mutual funds who had invested heavily, and successfully, in China are now cutting back on their holdings, the Associated Press reports.

A Missouri court has decided to allow a lawsuit by employees of Swiss manufacturer ABB against the company and Fidelity Investments to have class-action status, The Wall Street Journal reports. The suit accuses the company of charging excessive retirement plan fees and not disclosing the fees.

Although it became apparent two months ago that a handful of money market funds held subprime paper through structured investment vehicles (SIVs), at least a dozen more hold SIVs that Moody’s Investors Service said on Friday it might downgrade, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The subprime crisis has triggered a tumultuous year for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has hit a record high 34 times, and the U.S. stock market has swung 2% or more on 20 days. That said, The Wall Street Journal turned to a dozen leading investment executives for their take on what investors should take from 2007.

Judge Paul A. Crotty of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that defendant Salomon Brothers sufficiently proved that the fees it charged on nine of its mutual funds were justifiable in light of the funds’ superior performance and customer service, Dow Jones reports.

Although the Pension Protection Act permits 401(k) fund administrators to give advice to participants as long as fees collected from the advice remain constant, no matter what the investment choice, it doesn’t address the problems that arise when the advice steers investors into funds run by the 401(k) administrator itself, The Wall Street Journal reports.