Money Management Executive Latest News

NEW YORK -- Using 12b-1 fees to pay brokers for selling mutual funds has morphed the fund business into a massive marketing machine, a development that has sparked controversy over the best way for fund companies to finance distribution.

Janus Capital revealed that its assets under management dropped 0.9% in August to $127.8 billion from $129 billion at the end of July. The Denver-based shop has been bleeding assets at an alarming rate after its tech-heavy growth funds collapsed with the bear market and the firm was slapped with a hefty lawsuit over trading abuses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it would forge ahead with a new rule effective January 2006 requiring 75% of mutual fund boards to be comprised of independent directors and overseen by an independent chairman. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the SEC on Sept. 2, charging that it had overstepped its rulemaking authority.

Evergreen Investments, the asset management division of Wachovia Bank, plans to start using the the mWholesaler wireless interface from Pyxis Software to give sales managers instant access to critical customer relationship management information. mWholesaler hooks up with a BlackBerry to give remote access to sales, CRM and enterprise data that will help Evergreen managers increase sales, according to the company.

Traditional mergers and acquisitions among asset management companies may be a bit passe these days. Affiliated marketing partnerships, revenue and equity sharing deals and sub-advisory adoptions are definitely in vogue, right alongside the more conventional outright company buyouts.

Putnam's Shadek to Lead New Small-Cap Division

Charles Schwab Corp. said on Thursday that daily average trades on its Mutual Fund OneSource service and other asset-based trades jumped 10% in August from the year-ago period, but fell 4% from July. They averaged 60,100 trades from that group, according to the firm.

Pioneer Investments announced its entry into the separately managed accounts business Wednesday by signing a deal to purchase a minority ownership stake in Oak Ridge Investments, LLC.

Amvescap, the parent of AIM Advisors and Invesco Funds, has been the subject of takeover speculation, which has helped its shares in recent London trading, according to several European publications. Some predict Amvescap will be bought out by a U.S. bank.

The The California Department of Corporations, a business arm of California’s state government, this week joined throng of powerful consumer advocates now lashing out at mutual fund companies for charging investors excessive marketing fees.