Money Management Executive Latest News

Waddell & Reed Financial reported a 5% increase in third-quarter earnings, earning $24.5 million ($.30 per share), compared to $23.4 million ($.29) one year earlier.

Israel Englander, owner of the $5 billion Millennium Partners hedge fund, is in the process of settlement talks with New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fortune reports.

John Hancock launched five lifestyle portfolios Tuesday, with $15 billion in assets being shifted from existing lifestyle assets.

Though the third quarter was a strong one for hedge and arbitrage funds, both suffered tremendous losses in October due to drops in energy stocks, merger and acquisition deals that fell apart, exposure to the credit markets and a difficult environment for stock and bonds, CNN/Money reports.

MSCI Barra, a provider of benchmark indices and risk analytics software, has announced that ETFs tracking MSCI equity indices have exceeded $50 billion in assets. There are over 70 ETFs based on MSCI equity indices, and they are traded in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Putnam Investments' assets under management slipped to $195 billion in the third quarter, a 6.7% decline from $209 billion the year before, parent company Marsh & McLennan indicated in an earnings report, Reuters reports.

When their time comes and their track record is impressive, a mutual fund manager typically leaves their current firm to start a hedge fund. But contrary to the prevailing trend, David Winters, the former chairman and CEO of Franklin Mutual Series Funds in Short Hills, N.J., decided to start a mutual fund.

In the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Friday, AQR Capital Management sued a the broker/dealer unit of Refco demanding that it repay $2.7 million that was used as collateral for commodity futures transactions, according to a report form Dow Jones.

The investor advocacy groups Fund Democracy and Consumer Federation of America are seeking the dismissal of a controversial new fund governance rule that's mired in the U.S. Court of Appeals process.

As baby boomers retire, a wave of lawsuits could come against their employer's handling of 401(k) funds, a recent article form Lawyers Weekly USA claims.