Money Management Executive Latest News

State Street Corp. of Boston plans to buy International Fund Services, a Dublin alternative investment and hedge fund manager and custodian. The purchase, State Street's second in the hedge fund business and its first in global custody, rounds out the services State Street needs to enter the hedge fund management and custody business, according to the firm.

A value-oriented portfolio that Morningstar began tracking a year ago, dubbed "The Tortoise," returned 20%, whereas a growth-oriented "Hare" portfolio lost nearly 19% of its value, Morningstar announced last week. Morningstar launched the two portfolios, which have averaged 15 holdings apiece, last June and is basing these performance figures on the 12-month period ending June 17.

Even if WorldCom totally collapsed, it would barely affect the nation's collective 401(k) savings and pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Of the $3.7 trillion held in stocks in 401(k)s and pension plans, if these plans had owned all of the outstanding $41.5 billion in WorldCom stock last fall, it would have represented only 1.1% of their assets, according to EBRI.

Nuveen Investments has selected State Street Corp. to provide custody and fund accounting and Boston Financial Data Services, a jointly owned subsidiary of State Street and DST Systems, to provide transfer agency and shareholder services for Nuveen's family of 130 funds.

Although account aggregation was expected to encourage more investors to take charge of their financial lives at the expense of financial planners, it has failed to attract much attention, according to a new report from Spectrem Group. In fact, self-directed investors expressed the least interest in account aggregation, according to the report, "Account Aggregation: Magic or Mirage."

A survey conducted by a not-for-profit group devoted to educating people about retirement investing released a survey showing that roughly half of the nation's retirement investors rely on themselves instead of advice from a financial planner or employer.

Socially Responsible mutual fund family Citizens Funds applauded Coca-Cola's decision to expense stock options on its income statement, rather than treating this expense in a footnote. This will make executive compensation expenses clearer to investors, according to Citizens.

Citizens Advisers, investment advisor to the socially responsible Citizens Funds, has promoted Jeffrey Schappe to senior vice president and chief investment officer, a new position at the firm.

GoldK, which provides online employer-sponsored retirement plans, has hired J. Andy Hilbert as chief financial officer, a new position at the company. Hilbert will oversee GoldK's financial activities and corporate affairs and will report to CEO Brian Boyle.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the asset management unit of State Street Corp., has named Peter Lert as a principal to serve as product engineer and portfolio manager in the firm's global enhanced equity area. Lert will report to Sean Flannery, a SSgA principal and director of product engineering.