Money Management Executive Latest News

Regulators from the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission are arming pension plan providers with tips for spotting illegal mutual fund trading activities within their plans, Defined Contribution News reports.

Fidelity Investments has taken the plunge of offering a new advisor share class of the Fidelity Ultra-Short Bond Fund. Ultra-short bond funds are seen as a low-risk alternative to fledgling money market mutual funds with less volatility than intermediate-term fixed-income instruments. The sustained climate of low interest rates has taken the wind out of money market funds' sails and increased the popularity of ultra-short funds. .

Capital Research and Management, manager of the American Funds, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible conflicts of interest in its directed brokerage arrangements, The New York Times reports.

A disturbing trend of withering pension packages and employee benefits may force American employees t0 spend more years in the workforce to meet their retirement goals, according to the findings of a new study released by Hewitt Associates.

Morningstar is reversing its message of warning investors to stay away from Janus funds and instead is suggesting that investors approach the beleaguered mutual fund company with "caution," St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

SEC Insight, an independent research firm that analyzes correspondence between the Commission staff and public companies, endorsed plans by the SEC to post comment letters on its Web site.

Fund industry veteran and philanthropist Charles "Ted" Bauer, co-founder and retired chairman of AIM Management Group, passed away Monday following a sustained illness. He was 85.

CHICAGO – If the scandal engulfing the fund industry wasn’t depressing enough, mutual fund managers at the Morningstar Investment Conference were less than optimistic about the outlook for stocks and bonds in the upcoming year.

Fidelity Investments will cease paying brokerage trading costs inclusive of soft-dollar arrangements beginning July 1, The Wall Street Journal reports. Fidelity said it paid $815 million in trading commissions last year, of which $160 million, or roughly 19%, went for soft dollar research or market data.

The chairman and CEO of Empire Financial Holding has resigned amid a continuing SEC probe into mutual fund trading practices at the brokerage firm, Reuters reports. Kevin Gagne, the executive, had been on unpaid leave of absence since the probe began late last month. Other executives who had been involved in trading mutual fund shares for institutional clients have either resigned or been fired, the firm said.