Money Management Executive Latest News

Assets in exchange-traded funds rose 9.4% in October to $383.3 billion, up from $350.3 billion the month before, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

Highbury Financial will acquire the mutual fund unit of ABN AMRO, reportedly for $38.6 million. The unit’s 19 mutual funds, with $5.5 billion in assets, will be renamed the Aston Funds.

John Kim, the head portfolio manager of KL Group, a collapsed hedge fund in West Palm Beach, Fla., was ordered arrested by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp for defying an asset freeze on money intended to be returned to investors, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. KL According to a lawsuit the Securities and Exchange Commission brought against Kim last year, he defrauded investors of more than $200 million.

The NASD and NYSE Group have agreed to merge their regulatory operations into a single self-regulatory organization that will oversee all U.S. securities broker/dealers. The name of the organization will be determined at a later date and will begin operating in the second quarter of next year.

Surpassing its investment advisor's expectations and a sure sign of Chinese investors’ increasing enthusiasm for the markets, a new fund from China Asset Management raised $1.8 billion in just two days, Reuters reports.

A poll of 86,000 certified financial analysts by the CFA Institute has found that Charles “Ed” Haldeman, chief executive officer of Putnam Investments, is one of three executives they believe to be the most influential in the investment management industry, Reuters reports.

As of Friday, Legg Mason Capital Management will offer retirement share classes on 11 of its flagship mutual funds that it, its ClearBridge Advisors unit, Western Asset Management and Batterymarch Financial Management run.

Mutual fund portfolio managers are turning over their holdings less frequently, The Wall Street Journal reports. The median turnover, now at 58%, according to Morningstar’s analysis of 3,900 funds, is at the lowest level in at least a decade. At its peak in 2000 and 2001, median turnover was 75%.

Although many analysts previously believed that Putnam Investments might be a tough sell for Marsh & McLennan, some analysts now believe it might fetch an attractive price, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Responding to the even playing field that Regulation Fair Disclosure has largely made of investing since it was put into place in 2000, brokers are now matching mutual fund portfolio managers and other institutional investors with industry experts, The Wall Street Journal reports.