Money Management Executive Latest News

Transamerica Hires Skipper For Large-Growth Products

With so many surveys reiterating Americans' lack of preparedness for retirement, it's certainly good news that assets in 401(k) plans are finally growing again. However, that's primarily because the stock market performed so well in 2003, not because employers or investors are committing more money.

For equity mutual funds, the fiscal third quarter yielded mixed results in terms of performance, but conditions are expected to improve as investors look for a fresh start heading into the new year.

Thomas A. Olson is CEO and founding partner of the Colony Fund, a new mutual fund designed to include smaller investors in the private sector's push into space. The fund, still in pre-SEC registration mode, seeks to invest in commercial space enterprises, which the founders believe will be a preeminent market sector in this century, one day resulting in human settlements in space.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Thursday sued Putnam Investments’ parent company, Marsh & McLennan, for allegedly taking payoffs from insurers.

The debate over the regulation of hedge funds will come to a head later this month as the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to hold a vote at its meeting on Oct. 26, sister publication Securities Industry News reports.

Many of the new rule proposals governing the maligned mutual fund industry have already been ratified by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the agency’s chairman said in New York Thursday that those who oversee the markets are next in line.

In an effort to get a pulse on China’s private wealth market, U.S.-based Goldman Sachs is sending employees to the country, news organization XFN-Asia reports.

Putnam Investments announced Thursday it has hired Deidre Phillips as vice president and director of government relations.

In a recent survey by Solcorp, Whitehill Technologies, and DSPA Software, 77% of life and annuity insurers rated growing market share and reducing costs as high priorities. Full results will be available through a Webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 27.