Money Management Executive Latest News

A.P. "Skip" Viragh, the founder of Rydex Funds, died at his Sarasota, Fla.-home on Dec. 11 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62.

Vintage Mutual Funds has named James Mackay as its new president and CEO. Mackay is currently serving as the president of the Investors Management Group, the investment adviser and administrator for the Vintage Funds.

My primary concern remains that Congress, and to a lesser extent the SEC, will rush forth some "cure-all" measures, rules, regulations and laws that are poorly conceived, perhaps along the lines of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Roy Weitz, publisher of fundalarm.com, and Jack Bogle, founder, Vanguard Group, faced off last May on some of the problems the two outspoken critics have found rife in the industry (see inaugural issue of Money Management Executive 5/19/03).

Assets under management in the mutual fund industry grew by $82.4 billion, or 1.2%, to $7.235 trillion in November, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Most of the mutual fund scandal’s widest ranging investigations have been into fund firms themselves, but now the Securities and Exchange Commission is concentrating on the more prominent faces that help run these companies: Fund managers. Specifically, the Commission wants to see if the managers traded improperly with their own companies’ shares.

The Financial Services Authority, a London regulatory agency, said Tuesday it will not speak out on soft fees or bundled brokerages until March, according to Dow Jones Newswire.

To educate investors on how much they have to invest to receive breakpoints, the NASD has proposed that fund companies release written disclosure statements that outline thresholds for receiving them.

People with money may not think as many things are funny. That’s according to a recent study published in a leading economic journal by two-University of Texas economists.

Money Management Executive wants to know what you think about the scandal. Take half a minute to answer four questions, including whether you think the Investment Company Institute is serving your interests well: http://www.mmexecutive.com/poll.cfm.