Money Management Executive Latest News

Morningstar said in a recent regulatory filing it has chosen a ticker symbol for its initial public offering, suggesting that it might finally be ready to bring shares to market after months of delays.

In news that surprised even the most astute investment business insiders, Eaton Vance has been crowned the No. 1 publicly traded stock in the last 25 years. According to FactSet Research Systems, Eaton Vance's annualized return of 32% since 1979 put the company ahead of such Wall Street princes as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Wal-Mart. Eaton Vance leadership learned of the milestone during a recent Merrill Lynch conference. "There were big smiles on our faces when we saw that," said Eaton Vance Chairman James Hawkes. "It was one of those Holy Batman' moments."

Congressional Democrats from Massachusetts, a state that many leading money management firms call home, are unifying in opposition to the Bush Administration's proposal to route a portion of Social Security into mutual funds. Although they recognize the implications the Bush plan might have for hometown fund giants like Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, at least eight of the 12-member delegation doubt the president's claims that Social Security is in crisis and are concerned over diluting a safety net on which many of their constituents rely. "Senior citizens' needs are more important than parochial interests," said Rep. Michael Capuano.

Hancock Names Knox VP, Chief Compliance Officer

St. Paul Travelers Cos., Minnesota's largest insurer and the 13th largest in the U.S., wants to divest its majority stake in Nuveen Investments. But unlike other major financial companies like Citigroup and American Express that are now hoping to shed the non-core businesses they added during the corporate acquisition feast of the 1990s, St. Paul Travelers will begrudgingly part with what is easily its most lucrative unit.

While the mutual fund industry wrangles with the upcoming independent chairman rule, TIAA-CREF has commissioned a study that will look at two other fund governance issues that have escaped regulators' attention: whether ownership of a fund by directors improves performance and whether revenue sharing lowers it.

An informal poll by Diversified Management Resources (DMR) of Belmont, Mass., shows that few mutual fund executives, only 34%, believe that all fund boards should have independent chairmen. Investment professionals are also evenly divided over whether independent chairmen should be required for all mutual fund boards or just for those funds whose managers have allegedly violated compliance rules. Another 34% said that only funds whose managers have violated compliance rules should have independent chairmen. The remaining 32% said that the change should not be instituted.

Hedge funds are attracting a glut of new money because hedge fund indexes hugely overestimate the industry's performance, a leading U.S. academic said, according to Reuters.

Edward D. Jones is broadcasting to its six million clients across the country a 33-minute video that outlines the plan for Social Security reform, but the brokerage giant stops short of publicly endorsing a specific solution.

As the debate on privatizing Social Security rages on in Washington, workers saving for retirement through their companies' 401(k) plans may have a new tool at their disposal: Roth 401(k) accounts, which companies are likely to roll out next year.