Money Management Executive Latest News

Quantitative Advantage, a Minneapolis-based money manager that specializes in separately managed accounts, announced Tuesday that CheckFree APL will be its administrator in that sector.

Four of the nation’s largest public pension funds are going after the board of directors of Putnam Investments’ parent company Marsh & McLennan Companies for its "failure to properly control its money management business and for its severe lack of independent board leadership," the funds announced in a joint statement on Monday.

Merrill Lynch said it will return about $11 million to investors that did not receive certain discounts when purchasing Class A Shares, The New York Times reports.

It has been a tough week for Invesco. Just one day after New York, Colorado and federal regulators sued the Denver-based firm for improper trading, airwaves in Denver tossed around the question of whether the Invesco name should be erased from the Denver Broncos’ stadium title, Reuters reports.

The New York State Insurance Department has issued reserving guidelines for guaranteed minimum living benefits offered through variable annuities. The Department sent out a letter at the end of October regarding the application of Regulation 128 to those guarantees.

Index annuity sales were down 3% in the third quarter over the same period last year, according to the quarterly Advantage Group index sales survey. Sales were down 13% over the second quarter of 2002, with half of carriers reporting a drop.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5-0 yesterday to propose that mutual fund companies no longer receive any trade orders after the 4 p.m., or appropriate, market close. This would mean tremendous change to the way fund companies accept and process orders, since intermediaries handle 87% of these orders.

A day after Strong Capital Management’s founder resigned, the firm announced it has hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer, as the firm struggles for survival. According to one estimate, the firm is worth $1 billion – if outflows are stanched.

Putnam Investments has expanded its effort to assure long-term investors it has their interests at heart by applying to more of its funds a 1% redemption fee on the short-term fund trading known as market timing.

When asked about late trading, several lawyers told hedge funds and other traders that even certain trades taking place at 5:45 would be considered legal, The Wall Street Journal reports.