Money Management Executive Latest News

Charles Schwab & Co. announced last week that it is closing its call center in Austin, Texas and laying off the approximately 300 employees in Austin and 75 more from its four other call centers in Denver, Indianapolis, Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix.

Assets in separately managed accounts totaled $417.1 billion at the end of the second quarter, the Money Management Institute has reported. That marks a 3.5% increase from assets of $403.1 billion in the second quarter of 2001, a 1% increase from assets of $413.3 billion in the first quarter of this year and a 4.3% increase from assets of $399.7 billion at the end of 2001, according to MMI.

American Express Financial Corp. has acquired Dynamic Ideas, a quantitative analysis and portfolio optimization firm founded in 1999. Amex would not disclose the terms of the deal.

New Mexico's 529 Arrive Education Savings Plan is adding 14 individual mutual funds to the plan. The addition of the new funds brings the plan's total choices to 23 and expands the options to include large-cap, mid-cap, multi-cap, small-cap, international and fixed income funds.

Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) has announced that Jon Baum has joined Scudder Distributors, the distribution arm of Scudder Investments, as president and CEO. Scudder Investments is the US retail brand for DeAM.

State Street Corp. has named Joseph Antonellis chief information officer and head of its information technology group. He replaces John Fiore, who is leaving State Street to pursue other business interests, according to a company spokeswoman.

Payden & Rygel Global, the London-based subsidiary of global investment management firm Payden & Rygel, is expanding its client management team. The firm has added more than $1 billion in assets under management in the past 12 months due to high demand for fixed income strategies in the U.K. and Europe.

Transamerica Retirement Services has named Stig Nybo regional vice president, western region. He replaces Barry Tobin, who left the firm to pursue other opportunities, according to a TRS spokeswoman.

American Express Financial Advisors has hired Michelle Keely as senior vice president, fixed income investments. She replaces Fred Quirsfeld, who retired last December.

ADP Brokerage Services Group has promoted Charles Marchesani to senior vice president of product development for the firm's brokerage processing services (BPS) group. He will be responsible for application development and product management for ADP's core back-office transaction service.