Money Management Executive Latest News

In the past few weeks, fund companies have become far more candid than ever before about their holdings, particularly those that expose their funds to subprime holdings and other risk, The Wall Street Journal reports. Along with this, they are now going to great lengths to explain losses and to detail how they have cut back risky exposure.

FMR Corp. paid lobbying firm OB-C Group $120,000 to lobby Congress on tax legislation and other economic issues, the Boston Globe reports, citing a form posted on the Senate’s online public records office.One of the OB-C executives who lobbied on Fidelity’s behalf was Robert Stevenson, communications director for former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services launched two new initiatives to help 401(k) participants achieve a comfortable retirement.

While Harry Lange has done a notable job of jacking up the performance of the Fidelity Magellan Fund since taking over in October 2005—the fund is up 11.6% so far this year—Tim Cohen has not had has much success on the Fidelity Growth & Income Fund, the Boston Globe reports.Lange replaced Bob Stansky, while around the same time, Cohen replaced Steven Kaye.

A U.S. judge has ordered Merrill Lynch to pay an additional $125 million to settle 23 individual stock investor lawsuits for having published biased research by Henry Blodget. Earlier this year, a court mandated the firm pay $39 million to mutual fund investors in three lawsuits.

Citigroup is shuttering its $2.4 billion hedge fund Tribeca Global Investments, which will eliminate around 50 jobs, according to The New York Times.Fund executives expect to return $500 million to investors over the next few weeks, a person involved with the situation said.

Morgan Stanley is launching its first two new funds in India for the first time in 13 years, Reuters reports. Currently, it only runs one fund, the Morgan Stanley Growth Fund, which it launched in 1994. It was the first mutual fund offered in India by an overseas investment firm.

Charles Schwab says the number of its 401(k) plan clients automatically enrolling employees has risen dramatically to 20%, up from only 5% in 2006. Of those that do, 25% automatically place investors in target-date funds, and 95% give investors the chance to set up annual savings increases.

Vanguard is now offering discounted financial planning and lower online brokerage commissions to investors who have $100,000 in assets with the firm. Previously, those discounts were only available to those with $250,000 in assets.

James E. Stowers III, chairman of the board at American Century Investments, has stepped down from his position to “focus his full attention on new business ventures,” the company announced. Stowers has spent his entire 26-year career so far at the company that his father, James E. Stowers, Jr., founded in 1958.