Money Management Executive Latest News

The National Association for Variable Annuities has simplified retirement investing into four "retirement food groups": guaranteed income, long-term assets, insurance and investments.

Gabelli Funds is looking to eliminate omnibus accounting from its ABC Fund, a merger/arbitrage fund started in 1993, and require investors to own shares directly through its transfer agent. The problem is that broker/dealers are often charging a service fee for assets held in the fund through omnibus accounts, which do not disclose the beneficial owner of the account.

The parent company of First American Funds has entered a retirement share class into its mutual fund family, in a move to populate smaller companies’ retirement plans.

Few arrests and questionable reforms make some wonder of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accomplished anything at all.

Primecap, which has sub-advised two Vanguard funds for the past 20 years that have since been closed to new investors, has filed with the SEC to offer three mutual funds, its first such offering, CBSMarketWatch reports. The three funds will put it in direct competition with Vanguard, as investors who are unable to participate in the Vanguard funds will realize Primecap’s new offerings are being run by the same management team, according to The Independent Advisor for Vanguard Investors. Nonetheless, a spokesman for Vanguard said the firm plans on continuing its relationship with Vanguard.

The SEC has sent a questionnaire to a number of mutual fund companies, including Putnam and T. Rowe Price, asking about what kind of revenue-sharing arrangements they have with 401(k) administrators, Dow Jones reports. The Commission is looking at all types of arrangements, be they reimbursements, rebates, subsidies or other payments. The concern is that funds are paying for preferential positioning in defined contribution plans and that the arrangements are inflating fees borne by investors through 12b-1 fees or such hidden costs as sub-transfer agent or distribution costs.

Although fund companies will not be required to begin revealing their proxy votes until next month, most have already filed their voting guidelines with the SEC. While their corporate governance policies are mixed, the new stipulation is, nonetheless, causing some reforms in how funds vote, The New York Times reports.

In the second quarter, 80% of all mutual funds lagged the S&P 500 on average, yet miraculously, on June 30, 12 of the 13 Lipper mutual fund indexes outperformed that benchmark, and the 13th lagged it by just one basis point.

To fill the position of director of its new Office of Risk Management, the Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped Charles A. Fishkin.

Janus Capital Group announced that it has named Jason Yee manager of its Janus Worldwide Fund.