Money Management Executive Latest News

NEW YORK - Don't tell James Swanson there's a recession brewing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an order instituting administrative proceedings pursuant to a section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, imposing remedial actions against Kraig L. Kibble, the former director of operations for National Clearing Corp., for permitting market timing and late trading.

Although all's been quiet on the Social Security front lately, the Republican Party might be planning to push forward reform that would likely include President Bush's controversial private accounts, according to the National Post in Washington.

The NASD has fined Ameriprise Financial $500,000 for failure to properly supervise the sale of 529 college savings plans. NASD found that Ameriprise advisers failed to tell clients about the tax deductions they could have claimed by investing in 529s in their home state, and so, it has also ordered it to pay another $750,000 to compensate investors for the savings they would have realized.

Morningstar's earnings surged 83% in the third quarter to $7.5 million, up from $4.1 million a year earlier, driven by strong sales in investment advice, the company said. The company was able to benefit from the 2003 investment research settlement, which required 10 Wall Street investment houses to hire outside research companies for client information. Since then, six of the 10 houses, including Morgan Stanley, have hired Morningstar.

Reserve Recruits Ledford To Head up Investments

Separately managed accounts are poised for new growth, regardless of the fact that only one in five investors is taking advantage of their benefits, such as tax optimization and account customization, a recent survey of financial advisers and individual investors by Citigroup Asset Management found. Citigroup, based in Stamford, Conn., surveyed 400 advisers in June and July and 505 investors in July and August.

In the wake of the damage caused by this summer's Hurricane Katrina, at least two fund advisors, ING Funds and The Reserve Funds, have been providing relief to victims in the form of direct, albeit temporary, fee waivers.

After squabbling over the terms for weeks, the Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that will require U.S. firms that have defined benefit pensions to increase contributions to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and set aside more money for retirees, according to MarketWatch.com.

JP Morgan Funds, the mutual fund arm of JP Morgan Asset Management, has launched a tax-exempt fixed income fund called the JP Morgan Tax Aware Real Return Fund, which aims to maximize after-tax inflation protected returns. This is done through investing in an inflation-linked and tax-exempt securities portfolio. Deepa Majmudar and Richard Taormina manage the fund.