Money Management Executive Latest News

The Hartford settled with the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut last week for providing kickbacks to group annuity sales brokers in the form of undisclosed expense reimbursements between 1998 and 2004.

Although technology-oriented funds have risen 31% in the past 12 months ending April 30, investors continue to withdraw money from them, The Wall Street Journal reports. In fact, they have been bailing out of them every year since 2001, and in the first quarter of this year alone, they withdrew $1.1 billion.

The Senate voted 54:44 Thursday on measures to extend until 2010 the 15% long-term tax rate on capital gains and dividends. Approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday, Washington-watchers expect President George W. Bush to sign the bill within days. First passed in 2003, Bush has cited the tax package as an important part of his administration's legacy. Initially, provisions surrounding capital gains and dividends were set to expire in 2008, a presidential election year.

Federated Investors has agreed to acquire fund manager MDT Advisers for up to $240 million.

Putnam Investments is poised to recover after suffering $6.6 billion in outflows in the first quarter, according to Michael Cherkasky, chief executive officer of parent company, Marsh & McLennan Cos.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission posts its independent chairman rule for a second time, it will do so amid an industry milieu that is greatly unlike the one it met two years ago. That fact, combined with a number of other developments on the regulatory front, could determine what fixes the regulator must make to the rule and perhaps whether the controversial mandate will ever see the light of day again.

Some investors just can't resist the next big thing, even when there's a chance they'll lose everything, so the Securities and Exchange Commission has been operating fake Internet scams to teach those would-be victims a lesson.

One year into the Securities and Exchange Commission's XBRL pilot program, participants say it's not as scary as it might sound.

The U.S. Treasury has proposed a rule that all mutual fund companies be required to report any suspicious financial transactions, hoping to net drug dealers, terrorists and money launderers. The new rule would require mutual funds to file such reports within 180 days of such suspicious transactions involving $5,000 or more.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a cease-and-desist order against Unified Fund Services, a transfer agency, fund administration and accounting firm, and its former vice president of fund accounting, Michael E. Durham. The firm has also been ordered to pay a $125,000 civil penalty.