Money Management Executive Latest News

Expenses Lowered to 10 Basis Points for Five Funds

The long-awaited and much maligned deadline for mutual funds to disclose how they vote their proxies came and went last week as investors for the first time were given a peek at decisions on such matters as executive compensation and boardroom elections.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against broker/dealer National Clearing Corp. (NCC) and its parent company, JB Oxford Holdings (JBOH), for allowing customers to engage in late trading and improper market-timing activities. According to the SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles, each of the defendants facilitated thousands of market-timing and late trades in more than 600 mutual funds between June 2002 and Sept. 2003.

Franklin Resources said in a regulatory filing that it may be in trouble from the state of California for revenue-sharing payments made to brokerage firms. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer told the company that enforcement action would be authorized, Franklin said. The news comes seven months after Lockyer announced a deep look into revenue sharing between mutual funds, including Franklin, and brokers.

Asset allocation product specialist Ibbotson Associates has announced the promotions of three company veterans, Mike Barad, Lori Howard and Scott Majeski, to vice president. Barad is now in charge of presentation materials and publications, Howard heads up software quality assurance, and Majeski is head of the investment management services group.

Mark A. Adler, a Harvard law graduate with experience in both the private and public sectors of the law and the Securities and Exchange Commission's assistant chief litigation counsel since 1997, has been promoted to the title of deputy chief litigation counsel for the enforcement division. Adler replaces Peter H. Bresnan, who was promoted earlier this year and is now an associate director of the same division.

Invesmart recently hired three industry veterans to tackle retirement plan consulting in different regions of the country. Steven Burnett has joined the firm's Maine office, where he is responsible for the northern New England region. Joseph Jennings, working out of Austin, Texas office, now oversees the Southeast region, while James Klomparens, based in Cleveland, is in charge of the northern Great Lakes region. Reporting to National Sales Manger K.C. Cannon, the three will be working for the full-service retirement firm serving more than 5,500 retirement plans.

The hearty predictions surrounding outsourcing in the asset management industry three years ago that mostly fizzled during the bear market, may finally be on their way to fruition, according to a recently released white paper.

Although fund advisors are beginning to return to initial public offerings, particularly to expand offerings and competencies, (see MME 8/30/04), there are risks associated with tapping the capital markets.

Prudential Financial has added three new institutional sub-advised fund products in an effort to expand its offerings to plan sponsors and employees to help them manage retirement investments.