Money Management Executive Latest News

Variable annuities and variable life insurance are complicated and too often sold improperly, concluded the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Securities Dealers in a jointly written 30-page staff report Wednesday. The NASD has seen many customer complaints and examples of improperly sold policies, despite the fact that the products have been subject to regulation by both agencies.

Janus Capital Group suffered $5.9 billion in outflows for May, up from $700 million of outflows in April, the company announced. However, institutional clients’ plans to redeem their assets should now be winding down, Janus said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Mark Schonfeld regional director of its Northeast regional office, a post responsible for overseeing the Commission’s offices in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The region also has enforcement and examination programs in 13 states and Washington. Schonfeld replaces Wayne Carlin, who has since moved on to the private sector.

Even though the mutual fund scandal has claimed employees, executives, entire companies and tens of billions of dollars of assets, the push toward reform may be weakening, The Baltimore Sun reports.

John Hancock Financial Services has added funds from John Hancock Funds and Fidelity Investments to its Freedom 529 college savings plan.

Citigroup subsidiary Smith Barney said it put the kibosh on market timing activity it found in one of its funds in its Consulting Group Capital Markets Funds back in 2001, according to a recent regulatory filing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Boca Raton, Fla.-based Geek Securities with civil securities fraud Friday for both market timing and late trading in mutual funds, the Commission announced.

Deutsche Bank’s Scudder Private Investment Council Boston Office will soon belong to Eaton Vance Corp., the companies announced.

WEDGE Capital Management, a Charlotte, N.C.-based institutional money manager, has become the first company to use CheckFree Corporation’s multiple strategy platform for institutional money management. Previously, the platform, APL-MSP, was used for retail separately managed account (SMA) managers.

One third of private banks are looking to acquire an investment management firm, and a number of investment banks, weary of the fund scandal, are looking to divest their mutual fund units, a new KPMG report.