Money Management Executive Latest News

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled a complaint against a firm it accused of inflating the net asset values of one of its funds by as much as 600%, according to an SEC release.

President Bush today proposed changes to 401(k) rules that would allow workers more control over their retirement plans. The proposal comes in the wake of the financial collapse of Enron, the energy trading company that had close ties to the Bush administration and is now under investigation by the Justice Department.

After years of fighting the ebb tide of deposits, bank investment product operations now face a different enemy: complacency.

CDC IXIS Asset Management Advisers, the advisor to the CDC Nvest Star Worldwide Fund, is replacing Montgomery Asset Management LLC as one of the fund’s sub-advisors with Hansberger Global Investors, according to a company regulatory filing.

Wasatch Funds closed two more of its small-cap funds, leaving just two of the company’s funds open. In contrast, Wells Fargo Funds Management opened a new fund, the Wells Fargo Small Company Value Fund. The fund is sub-advised by Peregrine Capital Management.

A survey from Andersen released late this month says that most asset managers are out of touch when it comes to the needs of their high-net-worth clients and, as a result, a good number of those clients are dissatisfied with the services they receive.

In general, investors in mid-sized fund companies pay lower shareholder-servicing expenses than those in large fund complexes, according to a new study by Lipper.

Separate accounts management systems are cumbersome and inflexible, and could seriously undermine their long-term viability without much-needed reforms, according to a recent White Paper by Lockwood Financial Group, a financial services firm based in Malvern, Pa.

American Express reported this week that its net income declined 53%, from $2.8 billion in 2000 to $1.3 billion last year. The firm, which is comprised credit, travel and investment businesses, said that the net revenues for its financial services unit declined 33%.

A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives will likely convene hearings next week to explore ways to protect the retirement portfolios of U.S. workers in the wake Enron’s collapse.