Money Management Executive Latest News

In a conference call earlier today, Old Mutual CEO Jim Sutcliffe said that a settlement in the fund-trading probe at Pilgrim Baxter would take months, Reuters reports.

The editors of Money Management Executive want to know how Fundgate has affected your sales environment, customer service approach and communications at your firm. Our first questionnaire on Eliot Spitzer, the Investment Company Institute and regulatory reform was successfully completed last month. Keep an eye on MME for the results.

Joining a growing bandwagon of top investment and executive officers issuing open letters to shareholders, Fidelity Chairman Edward "Ned" Johnson 3rd notwithstanding (see "Fidelity Chairman Advises Caution to Regulators," PIMCO’s Bill Gross issued one of his own Friday. Gross’s take on the burgeoning fund scandal, which has now implicated his own firm, is that investigators may have gone too far.

Michael Travaglini, a Putnam Investments executive who has also served as head of Boston’s retirement fund operation, has been selected as the new director of Massachussetts’ state pension fund, a $32 billion fund which has been looking for a new executive director since last summer, Reuters reports.

After uncovering its first case of improper trading, Singapore is on guard and asking companies in its $10 billion mutual fund industry to ensure that the one instance was isolated, Reuters reports.

Exchange-traded funds were a hot investment product last year, the Investment Company Institute reports, but apparently mostly among institutional investors.

Fidelity investors making online stock trades, no matter how many trades are involved, will now pay a flat rate of $8 per trade instead of the penny per share they are currently charged.

The NASD said on Thursday that is has fined Boston-based State Street Research (SSR) $1 million and will receive an additional $533,000 in restitution from the firm for not doing enough to prevent market timing in its funds.

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Cynthia A. Glassman is concerned that requiring hedge fund registration might detract from the agency’s ability to inspect mutual funds.

The Oregon treasurer's office said Wednesday that it has hired OppenheimerFunds to replace Strong Capital Management as a manager of its 529 college savings plan.