Money Management Executive Latest News

Although pricing is usually a Securities and Exchange Commission concern and responsibility, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s attempt to lower fees in the mutual fund industry may be progressing, The New York Times reports.

The largest public pension plan in the world is discussing whether it should invest in hedge funds and other high-yielding investment vehicles, Financial Times reports.

Most investors believe that companies operating in a socially responsible manner not only pose a lower investment risk, but that they also provide higher returns on investment, according to a recent survey.

Last week, as news broke that Putnam Investments told the Boilermakers Union to take its money elsewhere, it was reported that both Federal Reserve employees as well as Eric Zitzewitz, the Stanford University professor who researched and wrote a highly publicized report on the effects of market timing, were both guilty of the rapid in-and-out trading method.

Not all scandals are created equal. As such, Invesco Funds is apparently digging in its heels and preparing for a dogfight with regulators, a stark contrast to the "yes siring" going on at firms accused of more outrageous activities.

Investing in sin stocks- is it naughty or just vice? Bill Van Alen, president and CEO of the Noah Fund, a Biblical-values based fund, believes people should invest according to their religious beliefs, while Dan Ahrens, co-portfolio manager of the Vice Fund and author of "Investing in Vice: The Recession-Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts," thinks money is the bottom line for investors.

Transparency, efficiency and low account minimums.

Nicole McDermott, former senior vice president of corporate services at Security Trust Co., pled guilty to securities fraud charges for allowing hedge fund clients to trade behind the bell, NY AG Eliot Spitzer said.

Noreen Harrington, a former executive of the Stern Asset Management arm of the Hartz Group, identified herself as the initial whistleblower in the mutual fund scandal that has ravaged the industry, according to reports.

The spate of investigations into mutual fund trading practices and intense media coverage has prompted more than one-third of existing mutual fund investors to say they are unlikely to buy mutual funds any time soon, according to a survey conducted by The Lumin Collaborative, a Richmond, Va.-based PR firm. Further, 77% say they would pull their money from any fund they believed violated its fiduciary responsibility.