Money Management Executive Latest News

Standard & Poor’s said today that some of the newest mutual funds in the industry outperformed their older counterparts by nearly 2%.

Asset management Web sites in the U.K. and Germany are well ahead of the rest of the pack in Europe, according to preliminary results from a study scheduled to be released in April by kasina, a Web consulting firm. Of the 40 finalists chosen for the top 10 European Web sites (see below), 17 serve U.K. investors and 16 serve German investors.

Asset in exchange-traded funds fell by $990 million to slightly more than $82 billion in January, the Investment Company Institute reported today. That follows an increase of more than $4 billion in ETF assets in the previous month.

College savings plans have received a lot of attention in the industry lately as firms continue to launch and begin marketing their programs, but the plans have yet to grab the attention of the retail investor.

AIM Investment Management's decision to fold its bank wholesaler division into its brokerage sales force has nearly ended the era of dedicated bank wholesalers in the mutual fund industry, but industry officials say that dedicated bank salespeople remain important to insurance companies.

PFPC International, a Dublin-based provider of fund accounting and administration services, said today that it will open a new office in County Wexford, Ireland.

INVESCO has gained distribution for two of its sector funds through Midland National Life Insurance Company. Midland will sell INVESCO’s Health Sciences and Financial Services funds through its variable universal life and variable annuities, the company announced today.

Is two years enough time?

Two weeks ago, John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, suggested that index fund companies form a federation aimed at pressuring corporations to better-serve their shareholders. But industry observers said the idea is more symbolic rhetoric than a substantive call to arms.

Expect managed account assets to go up and mutual fund executive bonuses to go down. Those were just a few of the opinions conveyed by a panel of industry leaders who discussed the most prevalent issues facing the mutual fund industry today. The panel spoke last week at the National Investment Company Service Association's 20th Annual Operations Conference in Miami.