Money Management Executive Latest News

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Despite the lack of a hard-and-fast rule regarding e-mail retention, mutual funds are hard-pressed to get their arms around electronic archiving, a potentially explosive compliance issue that has examiners licking their chops.

Is there ever such a thing as closure when it comes to scandals? Maybe a better question is, do financial services executives become increasingly diffident about regulatory matters as the list of offenders grows longer and the severity of the infractions appears to wane?

Photos by Matthew Atwan

Consumer advocacy groups and the national media have accused the Investment Company Institute of failing shareholders by focusing too heavily on the investment advisors on whom they depend for fees. Recently, in light of the continuing mutual fund trading and sales abuse scandal, they've again levied this unfair charge.

By George Wilbanks

By Robert Goldberg

ORLANDO, Fla. - Are you going to be paying for shelf space in the future?

Market timing. The mutual fund industry has not heard the end of this phrase, ever since New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, in 2003, unearthed shady trading practices through which fund companies allowed some investors to rapidly trade in and out of funds. The practice, commonly known as market timing, raises expenses for the fund and hurts long-term shareholders.

Many successful models will emerge in the race to provide retirement income management to retirees, but by talking to the competition, the first company to gain major ground in this respect is Fidelity Investments of Boston. In October of 2004, Fidelity launched the final piece of its comprehensive retirement program, Fidelity Retirement Income Advantage (FRIA).

1. Process excellence is key Create repeatable and sustainable processes and be able to demonstrate and document their effectiveness.