Money Management Executive Latest News

Federal securities regulators are reportedly scheduled to vote Dec. 15 on reforms to the national market system, including a provision requiring brokers to execute customer orders at the best price available regardless of which exchange that price exists on.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule requiring mutual fund boards to seat independent directors picked up support last week from two powerful congressional financial services committee members. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) and ranking minority member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) both communicated their support of the SEC's independent board chairman rule to Chairman William Donaldson. Both congressmen's remarks were drafted against the backdrop of omnibus appropriations legislation working its way through Congress. The omnibus legislation includes an initiative for the Commission to compare the performance of mutual funds under the supervision of independent chairmen to other funds steered by chairman who have direct ties to management.

MFS Investment Management's CEO Robert Manning told a gathering of investors in Toronto, where the firm's parent company, Sun Life, is headquartered, that the firm is rebounding from the mutual fund trading scandal, for which it paid more than $400 million in settlements.

Amid companywide layoffs and speculation about a possible sale, Putnam Investments' chief executive officer says he is confident that the company can get bigger by getting smaller.

Carving out a piece of Europe's retail third-party fund business can be an expensive undertaking, as companies that rely on distributors to sell their funds pay an average of four times more for sales and marketing than the rest of the asset management industry.

Could securities lending be the mutual fund industry's next ticking time bomb?

October was a positive month for equity mutual funds, which took in $15.3 billion, Lipper reported. The company compared the month's stock market rally to a similar period of good fortune in 1934, calling it a potential signal that the coming year could be prosperous.

SEC Promotes Three to Assoc. Regional Directors

Although 529 college savings plans continue to celebrate tremendous growth, the first 529 plan manager is dropping out, and industry experts predict more truancies to come.

As individuals investing in 529 college savings plans draw nearer to entering college, their investment tastes become more conservative, according to recent research from the College Savings Foundation.