Money Management Executive Latest News

Before firms complain about having to show after-tax returns in prospectuses and sales literature, they should take a look at this year's numbers. The post liquidation after-tax returns for funds with negative returns in 2001 will actually be above the pre-tax returns.

In nature, when one animal helps another it's called a symbiotic relationship. In the fund industry, magazines that rate top funds have a similar relationship with the funds they rate.

INVESCO has a balanced fund. So does AIM Funds. INVESCO offers a telecommunications fund. So does AIM. INVESCO has the Real Estate Opportunity Fund. AIM offers the AIM Real Estate Fund.

Bank of Montreal's acquisition last week of the North American operations of online broker CSFBdirect is part of an effort to ramp up the Canadian bank's U.S. mutual fund sales, the company said last week.

The mutual fund industry is confused. Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission wrote a letter to the Investment Company Institute in order to clarify its position on fair value pricing, but the letter actually raised more questions and has left fund firms struggling with what procedures implement, according to industry executives.

The Investment Company Act of 1940 requires that funds use fair value pricing' when the market quotation for a security is not readily available. Of course, that doesn't affect the vast majority of securities in mutual funds because their market prices are widely available.

For mutual fund sales powerhouse Merrill Lynch & Co., products must be simple. They have to be easy to explain to clients because the firm's financial advisers don't have the time to get into complexities.

Subadvisory services have proven an attractive market for many mutual funds, with a surprising amount of interest generated around the relatively small business of variable life. Often linked to variable annuity products offered by the same carrier, variable life subaccounts wield their own appeal.

MFMarketnews.com is keeping abreast of the industry's latest developments with postings twice a day. If you didn't log on last week here are some Web exclusives you missed:

MFMN: As a global company, with many business lines, services and products, what is at the core of the Frank Russell Company?