Money Management Executive Latest News

The U.S. mutual fund market remained broadly flat in the first quarter of 2005, while European cross-border UCITS fund assets rose by 5.1%.

Based on the fact that all S&P 500 mutual funds track the same index, it could be assumed that any one of these some-odd 65 funds is as good as the other, but a recent study by the Investment Company Institute suggests otherwise.

The nation's fund managers are bullish about the prospects for the global economy, according to a poll Merrill Lynch released last week.

A subsidiary of Charles Schwab has introduced a managed account platform for independent advisers. Schwab Institutional, which supplies custodial, operational, and trading support to independent advisers, is now offering a bundled Managed Account Access product, aimed at giving advisers access to industry-leading institutional money managers at low minimums and with streamlined account administration. Managed Account Access lets advisers tap popular managers without having to negotiate separate contracts, fees or minimum account sizes.

If the ongoing legal fracas between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Securities and Exchange Commission over the controversial independent chairman rule illustrates anything, experts say, it's that the mutual fund industry has entered an entirely new era in rulemaking.

Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, one of the most formidable mutual fund companies and investing approaches in the United States, is always a good man to check in with on weighty industry issues. Money Management Executive Editor Lee Barney spoke with Bogle last week, on the eve of the Sept. 3 two-year anniversary of the mutual fund trading scandal.

The CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity of Charlottesville, Va., has issued new guidelines for Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), a universal and completely voluntary set of standards intended for separately managed account managers to calculate and present investment performance fairly. The new guidelines, effective Jan. 1, should also give prospective clients full disclosure of a firm's historical performance.

PFPC, a leading provider of back office services to the mutual fund industry, announced last week that Edward J. Mills has joined the company as a vice president and senior director.

For Richard D. Byrd, the opportunity to move into the driver's seat at the wealth management division of City National Bank in Los Angeles was a no-brainer.

The New York Stock Exchange has ordered Merrill Lynch to pay a $10 million fine for failure to deliver prospectuses to customers in mutual fund transactions and other supervisory and operational lapses.