Money Management Executive Latest News

As the list of companies embroiled in the brouhaha surrounding backdated options continues to grow, the effect on their stocks, and the mutual funds that hold them, seems to be shrinking.

Robert Hetzer, a former senior vice president in charge of mutual fund trading at Fiserv Securities, will pay more than $600,000 to settle allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in late trading of mutual funds in his own account. Hetzer, of Hollywood Beach, Fla., did not admit or deny the SEC charges.

To attract more conservative investors, a growing number of states are adding federally insured bank products to their 529 college savings plans.

Crooks are increasingly swindling money from senior citizens by directing them into bad investment choices. By one estimate, according to the AARP, there are five million victims of elder financial abuse each year.

Fred Alger Selects Adams, Shen as Research Execs

For at least three mutual funds, charity clearly begins at home.

Mutual fund retention rates jumped to record highs over the last two years, a sign that "smart" investors have been the driving force of the recent bull market.

Morningstar reported Thursday that its second-quarter profit rose 18% to $11.2 million, or 24 cents a share, compared to $9.5 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.

With investments by private equity firms reshaping corporate finance, and driven by the promise of higher returns, mutual funds are beginning to invest in private equity--in spite of the fact they have traditionally stayed away from such illiquid and volatile investments, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Critics of the Pension Protection Act, now pending in the Senate, fear that by allowing mutual fund, brokerage and insurance companies to steer workers into specific options in 401(k) plans through the guise of advice--they will only foist their own wares on them, The Wall Street Journal reports.