Money Management Executive Latest News

The Wisconsin State Department of Administration has announced that Wells Fargo Funds Management has been selected to provide management services for EdVest - the state's 529 college savings plan - effective May 1, 2006, according to U.S. Fed News.

Pentegra Retirement Services, which sells retirement products and services to community banks, has selected State Street Global Advisers to manage its more than $1 billion of qualified plan assets.

The hedge fund industry is heading towards a consolidation where smaller money managers and funds of funds will soon be absorbed into hulking, multi-strategy advisers, according to a recent white paper from investment banker and Grail Partners founder Don Putnam.

With the debut day of the Roth 401(k) inching closer, it would seem that employers would be enthusiastic, but The Toledo Blade reports that few seem interested in offering the new retirement-planning option.

It was quite a year for hedge funds, as they increased their assets under management to an estimated $1 trillion across 8,000 funds, according to Slate Magazine.

While efforts to open closed-end funds are common - particularly among funds trading at a deep discount and with relatively small assets under management - a multi-staged fight is brewing at the Neuberger Berman Real Estate Income Fund, The Wall Street Journal reports. Complicating matters further, the fund also has a poison pill provision that is forcing the sparring shareholders into a game of ownership one-upmanship, and the fight has been spilling over into court.

Taking a cue from one of its competitors, Morgan Stanley is examining whether it should change the brand name of its mutual funds to help boost sales, Dow Jones reported.

AIG SunAmerica Asset Management Corp., has announced the launch of the SunAmerica Focused Alpha Large-Cap Fund, a closed-end fund which will invest in both large-cap and large-cap value stocks. The fund is now the second-largest publicly traded closed-end fund that AIG SunAmerica offers.

The NASD intensified its regulatory focus on sales of mutual funds, variable annuities and 529 college savings plans in 2005, and did so by increasing its enforcement actions. In 2005 the NASD set records as 1,412 enforcement actions were brought forth, 1,296 of which were resolved. Of the enforcement actions brought forth this year, 400 were mutual fund-related.

While it still trails market share leaders Barclays, State Street and Vanguard Group in terms of assets under management, PowerShares Capital Management made a great deal of noise in the exchange-traded funds sector this year; but experts are unsure whether the Wheaton, Ill.-based group can build upon its frenetic product push.