Money Management Executive Latest News

While declaring it has no evidence of United States-like violations by its firms, Europe’s top mutual fund association said Friday it would look into possible violations by its companies and if any are found, draw up ways to halt them, Reuters reports.

Putnam Investments, using prominent ad agency Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos, took out full-page advertisements in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal Monday calling attention to the executive replacements that occurred last week, from the chairman on down.

African-Americans are starting to close the wealth gap, in large part due to home ownership, according to analysis of Federal Reserve data by the Consumer Federation Association and BET.com. "But there is more that can be done," said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of CFA.

John D. Carifa, president, chief operating officer and director of Alliance Capital, was forced to resign by the company’s board of directors Monday because of market timing practices that occurred on his watch. Also resigning was Michael J. Laughlin, the firm’s mutual fund distribution unit chairman.

A desire for profits in a turbulent time for the market helped push mutual fund managers enough that they started allowing frequent market timing by clients, New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson writes.

Sponsors and managers of separately managed accounts will now be able to transfer execution prices back and forth through an automated system, thanks to CheckFree Investment Services’ new product enhancement, called Galaxy functionality.

While this week has been prosperous for most other fund companies, the story is different at Putnam Investments.

African-Americans are starting to close the wealth gap, in large part due to home ownership, according to analysis of Federal Reserve data by the Consumer Federation Association and BET.com. "But there is more that can be done," said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of CFA.

Merrill Lynch has fined two senior executives $250,000 apiece for allowing improper trading in mutual funds, according to an exclusive report in today’s New York Post. The two are Curtis Brown, San Francisco regional director, and Andy Williams, mid-Atlantic director.

Because variable annuities have sub-accounts that are structured much like mutual funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission has requested information on trading practices from most top insurers and some smaller ones, according to Judith Hasenauer, partner at Blazzard, Grodd & Hasenauer.