Money Management Executive Latest News

WASHINGTON – Testifying before the financial management subcommittee of the Senate’s Governmental Affairs Committee, intrepid New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer vehemently defended his $600 million settlement with Alliance and the anticipated $300 million-$350 million settlement pending with MFS.

Putnam Investments Tuesday announced a host of initiatives to improve fund transparency and lower costs – which today’s Wall Street Journal estimates will reduce fees by some $35 million.

Morningstar has announced plans to create a global hedge fund and private partnership database.

AdvisorCentral, a portal for advisers and broker/dealers, has announced a partnership to create a platform with Savingforcollege.com, an online education tool for college savers.

Although it will not hold Japanese equities, a new fund launched by Legg Mason Investments will try and tap into a perceived demand for the Southeast Asian markets, the company announced.

As the Securities and Exchange Commission grapples with the question of how much transparency is needed in hedge funds, the industry nearly reached the $750 billion mark worldwide, Reuters reports.

The ability to conduct innovative research, which is often the selling point for independent mutual fund firms, would be squashed if the Investment Company Institute’s proposal to curb soft dollars is ratified, an executive from Mellon Financial subsidiary Dreyfus Corp. told The Wall Street Journal.

Smith Barney and Gabelli Asset Management recently made important disclosure revisions to their funds’ prospectuses regarding broker compensation and fees.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. is talking to the SEC, New Hampshire regulators and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer about a settlement including $200 million in restitution and penalties and another $100 million worth of reduced fees over the next several years, The New York Times reports today. The paper cites several sources close to the talks as its source of information.

The American Association of Individual Investment has a mission of educating investors who handle their own mutual fund transactions by offering "educational" advice about funds.