Money Management Executive Latest News

The Mutual Fund Education Alliance presented its STAR Awards for Excellence in Shareholder Communications to Ariel Mutual Funds, Montgomery Funds, and Strong Funds at their six annual awards ceremony.

The Securities and Exchange Commission took a first step yesterday in requiring mutual funds to disclose their proxy voting policies and their actual proxy votes cast.

Religious mutual funds more than doubled in number during the last three years, according to a study released this week by MMA Praxis Mutual Funds.

Charles Schwab will lay off 1,800, or approximately 10%, of its workforce as part of ongoing measures to cut back on staff, projects and advertising to save $225 million a year, the firm announced today.

Fund companies along with other corporations are taking a more somber, serious approach to their annual reports, with many of the annuals for fiscal 2001 ended June 30 coming out now. The economic and regulatory environment is causing many firms to try to reassure investors that companies mean business.

If Wade Dokken, CEO of American Skandia, is a betting man, he may be about to lose his shirt. In March of this year, when MFMN asked him about the likelihood of a sale of the company, he responded, "I'll take all those side bets."

A mutual fund advisor that has outspokenly bemoaned the corporate scandals plaguing Wall Street this year, even put its weight behind the movement to leverage fund assets to pressure public corporations into reform, has been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for improper disclosure.

In an effort to steer market-weary customers into their pockets, firms are offering principal protection on a number of funds, and some investors have warmed up to the old adage, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Safeco mutual funds group has named Kevin Rowell its new president. Rowell, the former head of global relationships for Alliance Capital Management, is scheduled to join the firm this week.

Investment research firm Morningstar announced that Cheryl Francis has been elected to its board of directors.