Money Management Executive Latest News

As some investors turn to banks for better returns than on money market funds, some mutual fund companies are trying to outdo them with enhanced-cash money funds, The Wall Street Journal reports. These funds invest in longer-term, lower credit instruments, whereas traditional money market funds invest in short-term Treasuries and commercial paper.

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has filed yet another lawsuit against Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., charging the firm with disregarding repeated demands to produce documentation having to do with wrongdoings in the company's mutual fund and insurance divisions, the Boston Business Journal reports.

Proving that first-mover advantage and a memorable ticker symbol are key when it comes to launching a mutual fund, State Street Global Advisors' streetTracks Gold (GLD) Shares exchange-traded fund has attracted almost 17 times the amount of assets than Barclays Global Advisors' iShares Comex Gold (IAU), TheStreet.com reports.

With its two major stock indexes, the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Index down 9.7% and 12% respectively so far this year, the two worst-performing indexes in Asia, China is looking to overseas fund managers in an attempt to boost its markets, Bloomberg reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission testified last week before the Senate Banking Committee that it approves legislation that would ban the sale of mutual funds aimed at military personnel, the Associated Press reports.

A California appeals court upheld an earlier Superior Court ruling in favor of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer against Edward Jones for not disclosing sales deals with a number of mutual fund companies. The court rejected Edward Jones' lawsuit that federal law preempted Lockyer's case against it.

Fidelity Investments has been busy hiring employees in the United States and abroad this year, expanding its head count by 3,500, the Boston Herald reports. The total number of people working for Fidelity stood at 36,000 at the end of October, way above its 2000 peak of 33,186 employees. In 2002, when it cut 1,700 jobs, Fidelity had a total of 29,142 employees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued the "SEC 2005 Performance and Accountability Report," which is a synopsis of the SEC's major accomplishments of this year and the challenges it faces in the future.

JPMorgan Worldwide Security Services, the fund services giant of New York-based JPMorgan Chase, has launched a new business unit that will offer a complete line of outsourced fund administration services to private equity firms and institutional limited partners.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed their final legal briefs last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals, shedding some light on how each camp will argue their side of the independent chairman rule when the case's oral proceedings begin next year.