Money Management Executive Latest News

ICON Advisers has expanded its internal sales desk staff from eight to 12 in anticipation of expanding its external sales force in early 2006, the company announced Wednesday. The additional internal wholesalers come from TIAA/CREF, PIMCO, Wells Fargo and SunAmerica.

Janus Capital Group is working on unveiling three new funds-of-funds designed to offer investors ready-made diversification, Rocky Mountain News reports, citing a Janus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's new Smart Portfolios will invest broadly across Janus stock, bond and money-market portfolios, with the growth portfolio investing between 75% to 85% in equities, the moderate portfolio investing between 55% to 65% in equities and the conservative portfolio investment between 35% and 45% in stocks.

Adequate savings, not being overly conservative and effective diversification are three of the recommendations AllianceBernstein makes in its new report, "Target-Date Retirement Funds: A Blueprint for Effective Portfolio Construction."

Pioneer Investment Management will offer the Roth feature in its owner-only Uni-K 401(k) plan, to be called the Pioneer Uni-K Plan with Roth and debut Jan. 1, 2006, which is the date that 401(k) Roth contributions come into effect nationwide.

The Ontario Securities Commission is going after commission fees Portus Alternative Asset Management Inc. paid approximately 1,000 financial advisers for referrals from 26,000 investors, The Globe and Mail reports.

AmSouth reported third-quarter net earnings Tuesday of $180.3 million, up 51% from $119.6 million in the third quarter of 2004. Per diluted share, earnings were 51 cents, up from 33 cents in the period a year ago.

Although Legg Mason and Citigroup had originally set Nov. 1 as the date for swapping their respective brokerage and mutual fund businesses, a deal worth a total of $3.7 billion, in light of some resistance from mutual fund shareholders and management complications, the companies now do not anticipate completing it until December, Knight Ridder reports.

After the hit of Hurricane Katrina, undoubtedly the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, many investors began wondering what to do about their investments. Many investment advisers are telling their clients to stay put, Contra Costa Times reports.

Refco has filed for bankruptcy; and has decided to sell its brokerage unit for $768 million to an investor group, in an effort to save the firm from following in the footsteps of Bayou and collapsing, according to Reuters.

Hedge funds investing in emerging markets have proved that it is a lucrative business, by outperforming their benchmarks this year, The National Post reports. Hedge Fund Research Inc. reported that hedge funds investing in emerging markets delivered returns of 14.7% in the first nine months of the year through September, as tracked by the HFRI Emerging Markets Total Index. This number contrasts with the 7.3% increase in the HFRI Fund Weighted composite index in the period.