Money Management Executive Latest News

AXA Rosenberg has appointed Heidi Khashabi Ridley, CFA, as managing director of mutual fund distribution, where she will expand sales strategy and launch marketing programs in the company's mutual fund business. Ridley previously worked for Wells Fargo Funds Management Group as SVP and director of marketing and product management. Prior to that, she was managing director and head of mutual fund distribution at Montgomery Asset Management.

DB Absolute Return Strategies, the global hedge fund management business of Deutsche Bank AG, has announced the addition of two analysts, Jon Venetos and Ross Dackow, to its fund-of-funds team. Venetos was formerly a member of the fund-of-funds and managed futures group at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Dackow was most recently with Soros Fund Management as a managing selection analyst.

Transamerica Retirement Services has promoted Kent G. Callahan to the position of president and CEO. He succeeds Tom Schlossberg, who became pension group head for parent company Aegon USA. Callahan, who has been with the company for 17 years now, was previously SVP of business development and marketing. During his tenure as SVP, his business development team achieved new distribution arrangements through PaineWebber, JPMorgan Chase, Northwestern Mutual and Bank One, among others. In addition, at the end of last year, he was instrumental in launching the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, meant as an educational resource for the small business retirement community. Peter Welsh has assumed Callahan's previous role as SVP.

B. Robert Rubin, who is now retired, has been awarded the PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for distinguished volunteer service at NICSA. The award, funded by Pricewaterhouse, was established in 1992 to recognize volunteers who have munificently and adeptly contributed to NICSA's position as a leading source of shareholder servicing and operational information.

Deutsche Property Asset Management, a division of Deutsche's fund management arm, has announced the resignation of chief exec Simon Cooke, who will step down at the end of May. The company says Cooke won't be replaced and his role will be divided among the unit's four managers.

CheckFree Investment Services, a division of CheckFree Corporation, announced the appointment of Tom Steinberger as VP and business head for M-Solutions. A Certified Investment Management Associate, Mr. Steinberger was most recently SVP and COO of multimanager investment advisory services at JP Morgan Private Bank. Prior to that role, Steinberger held various positions, including SVP and director of Hambrecht & Quist's asset management division.

Prudential Financial and Wachovia have agreed to a joint venture, merging the firm's retail brokerages. The combined forces represent $537 billion in client assets and estimated net revenue of $4.2 billion in 2002. The deal is set to close in the third quarter of this year.

Mutual Fund giant Fidelity Investments said on Monday that its net income plummeted 39% last year amid a rocky investment climate and suffering retirement accounts.

Despite the dominance of fixed annuity sales over variable annuity sales, more online consumers queried search engines with the search string "variable annuity" rather than "fixed annuity," according to a recent study from Super Reports.

Retirement isn't workers only worry. As employer wells for retiree health coverage dry up, new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows more than two-thirds of future retirees without employer-based health insurance may need to save up to $1.5 million to fund lifetime medical expenses. Even for retirees with employer-based coverage, the amount needed to pre-fund health costs exceeds $500,000, EBRI finds. Further, the estimates do not include potential long-term nursing home care, which can cost more than $50,000 per year. The figures assume death at age 100 and annual inflation of 14%. "People are living longer. Medical care is getting more expensive, and employers are getting out of the business of providing retiree health benefits," said EBRI President and CEO Dallas Salisbury. "This puts added responsibility on employees to prepare for these major expenses."