Money Management Executive Latest News

SEC Governor Cynthia Glassman once again spoke out vehemently against the Commission’s new rule that will require fund boards to have independent chairmen. Speaking before a gathering of public pension directors Monday, Glassman said the benefits of the new rule have not been "supported by any empirical data."

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer made his long-anticipated run for governor official Tuesday, by announcing his 2006 candidacy on the Democratic ticket.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s unprecedented new rulemaking is likely to subside in coming months, the Associated Press reports. Still, Chairman William Donaldson is expected to remain in his position in President Bush’s second term, which will mean a more active Commission overseen by a man who does not balk at fighting big business.

Legg Mason, which has been in Baltimore since 1899, is looking for new headquarters and is considering finding a signature building, the Baltimore Business Journal reports. But the firm is also weighing renewing its lease on Light Street or moving to the suburbs, real estate brokers said.

Investors appear willing to forgive funds that have been tainted by the fund scandal as long as they deliver strong performance, USA Today reports.

Index Development Partners, a nascent exchange-traded funds provider, is bulking up to break into the market by preparing variations of actively managed investments, which it is calling "performance indexes," CBS MarketWatch reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to consider proposals aimed at tackling murky directed-brokerage practices that shareholder advocates say drive up mutual fund expenses with unnecessary trading fees, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Securities regulators have launched an informal probe of mutual fund and brokerage firms to determine whether brokers doled out lavish gifts to attract trading business.

The NASD has barred James B. Moorehead, a former broker with AmSouth Investment Services, from the securities industry for life for alleged fraud, forgery, and falsification of documents in connection with variable annuity sales.

Merrill Lynch reportedly may soon join the charge for financial service firms to begin offering registered funds of hedge funds in separately managed accounts. Separately managed accounts have for years outpaced mutual funds in capturing assets from affluent investors, but numerous operational and regulatory challenges complicate the prospect of integrating traditional hedge funds into portfolios of long-only investment strategies. But the recent surge of interest in registered hedge funds-of-funds may provide a solution to the SMA providers' dilemma.