Money Management Executive Latest News

A number of ambitious plans are beginning to take shape at John Hancock Mutual Funds in Boston. The mutual fund group, which advises open- and closed-end funds, private accounts and retirement plans, and also sponsors the Freedom 529 plan, is an affiliate of John Hancock Financial Services. John Hancock Financial became a full-fledged subsidiary of Canada's Manulife Financial Corp. in April 2004.

Hughes Becomes President, COO at Clinton Group

Judging from the stacks of files that litter our desktops, the truly paperless office remains a thing of the future. But the Investment Company Institute's Broker/Dealer Advisory Committee (BDAC) task force on paper suppression and DST Systems are working to move the industry further in that direction.

The wrangle between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took an intriguing turn last week when, fast on the heels of filing an anticipated legal brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals opposing the Commission's independent chairman rule, the Chamber launched a bi-partisan study into the impact of state and Federal regulations on the nation's capital markets.

The tremendous popularity of international and emerging market funds continues this year at levels never before seen, with $71.2 billion being invested in international funds through the first three quarters of the year, Financial Times reports. This beats the previous record for international funds, when they took in $66.7 billion in all of 2004.

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.

NASD has fined Ameriprise Financial $500,000 for failure to properly supervise the sale of 529 college savings plans, The Washington Post reports. 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.

Abigail P. Johnson, daughter of Fidelity Chairman and CEO Edward C. Johnson III, may not make the cut when her father retires, according to an opinion piece in Business Week. Ned Johnson says that because he has no immediate plans to retire, he has not chosen a successor, and should he be unable to make a decision on the matter, then company guidelines will decide.

After a long and hectic auction process, filled with bidding, outbidding and dropping bids, Man Group Plc, the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund company, won the auction and outbid at least four competitors for the assets of the troubled Refco Inc., Bloomberg News reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against the $43 million hedge fund, Groundswell Partners, for doctoring financial statements with the intention of misleading investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.