Money Management Executive Latest News

Women are far more conservative when it comes to investing, according to Charles Schwab’s first quarter 2003 self-directed brokerage account (SDBA) report. Looking at SDBAs and 401(k) plans, the report includes gender-specific data for the first time.

Many investors opted for the sidelines during the downturn in the stock market, but black investors sat out more their white investors, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

The National Association of Securities Dealers censured and fined McLaughlin, Piven, Vogel Securities and its chairman, James C. McLaughlin, $100,000 for unsuitable sales of B shares. Saying that A shares would have been more appropriate, NASD also ordered the firm to return $90,000 to investors.

Financial services company State Street Corp. announced Wednesday it will sell its asset management business to Charles Schwab’s U.S Trust unit for $365 million.

The longtime rivalry between Info-One/VARDS and AnnuityNet will soon be a thing of the past. AnnuityNet and Wachovia Insurance Agency, which owns Info-One/VARDS, will soon be merged.

The Principal Financial Group announced Wednesday that its subsidiary, Principal Financial Group Ltd., has reached an agreement with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) to purchase IDBI’s 50% stake in IDBI-Principal Asset Management Co. Ltd. for an estimated $20 million. Through this agreement, Principal will now have a 100% stake in IDBI..

First Clearing, a trade execution and clearing firm, has recently announced Diversified Managed Allocations (DMA), which is a multiple manager separate account management program. It will be available to all of its clearing correspondent clients.

A proposal in the new fund disclosure bill that would preclude anyone with business or personal ties to a fund company from serving as an independent member of the board has many in the fund industry hotly contesting the idea, Reuters reports.

William Ennis, previously president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Investments, will join Morgan Stanley’s investment management division as president of global services, including sales, distribution and operations. The division has $421 billion in assets under management.

Investors increasingly view alternative investments, including hedge funds and real estate, as a safe investment due to their low correlation with the stock market, according to the 2003 World Wealth Report, published by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.