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Exchange-traded funds, which have grown by leaps and bounds since their introduction in 1993, are now attracting attention from what is seemingly the unlikeliest of corners: 401(k) plans. While mutual funds have been the cornerstone of 401(k)s, it's ETFs' ultra-low cost and avoidance of internal capital gains that is providing them this new lure. Any slight boost to performance in an age of single-digit returns, financial planners say, is worth a close look.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the NASD are said to be cooperating on new fee disclosure rules to make sure investors are fully aware of all mutual fund fees, including obscure fees sometimes hidden in prospectuses. Although the SEC has spent months hammering out new regulations requiring fund companies to highlight fees, the Commission is now questioning whether average shareholders have the means to understand the new data and may require fund distributors to collect investors' signatures on new point-of-sale forms that fully disclose commissions. The average investor has a basic grasp of annual investment management fees, but other broker compensation schemes and trading costs remain less transparent, regulators said.

T. Rowe Price has added adviser share classes on four of its funds, thereby expanding its total adviser class lineup to 24. One of the funds, the T. Rowe Capital Opportunity fund, has also been given an R share class, making it eligible for sale in fee-based retirement plans. The company's complete lineup of R class funds is now 13. The other three funds now included in the advisor class lineup are the T. Rowe Real Estate, Short-Term Bond and Capital Appreciation funds.

Vanguard's exchange-traded fund assets more than doubled last year as the mutual fund titan rolled out 18 new ETFs. Assets under management in Vanguard's proprietary VIPER ETFs grew to $5.9 billion from $2.6 billion since the end of 2003, primarily due to the fact that the VIPER family grew to 20 from two investments during the same period.

While the trading scandal has put an increasing demand on mutual funds to provide more accurate fair valuation on their portfolios, hedge funds are also under increasing pressure to reveal their net asset values (NAVs) on a more timely basis. Investors Bank & Trust Senior Director Christopher Farias recently spoke with Money Management Executive on this and other critical issues facing hedge fund administrators. As product manager for the company's hedge fund administration services, which combined with other alternative investments totals $100 billion in assets, Farias is familiar with the topmost concerns at some of the leading hedge funds in the nation.

AXA Distributors Names Kennedy Broker/Dealer VP

Charles Schwab & Co. has lowered minimum required asset balances that investors must maintain in certain accounts to avoid fees, the company announced Thursday.

American workers nearing retirement can sit back and relax. Fidelity Investments reports an emerging trend of automating retirement savings plans, such as 401(k) plans. The automation allows employees with a lack of time, money or investment knowledge to adopt lifecycle funds, while more 401(k) plan sponsors are using automatic annual increases and enrollment programs.

American workers nearing retirement can sit back and relax. Fidelity Investments reports an emerging trend of automating retirement savings plans, such as 401(k) plans. The automation allows employees with a lack of time, money or investment knowledge to adopt lifecycle funds, while more 401(k) plan sponsors are using automatic annual increases and enrollment programs.

The hedge fund universe approached the $1 trillion mark after gaining $193 billion of new assets last year, CBS MarketWatch reports.