Money Management Executive Latest News

Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Company of Hartford Conn. has introduced a new immediate annuity, called Phoenix Income Choice, that allows for fixed payments, variable payments or a combination of both, the company announced yesterday.

The Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa., is adding Admiral Shares to eight additional funds, bringing its total number of funds offering the share class to 28, the company announced today.

Harvey Pitt has been selected by President Bush as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report last week in The New York Times. However, the SEC and the White House would not confirm that report.

SunAmerica Mutual Funds of New York has announced that it has expanded its optional Asset Protection Plan term life insurance coverage to include the five SunAmerica Brazos mutual funds which are offered as part of the SunAmerica mutual fund family.

The Strategic Partners Focused Value Fund of Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J. raised $242 million in its six-week subscription period ending March 27, the company announced.

Institutional investors who conduct large stock trades, such as mutual funds, will force dealers to create equity trading communities to lower trading costs by 2003, according to a new report by Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass. As a result, investors will see trading costs cut by between one-half and two-thirds, according to the report.

The Vanguard Group may add an exchange-traded share class to its Small Cap Index Fund and its Total Stock Market Fund, according to Brian Mattes, a company spokesperson.

Rydex Funds of Rockville, Md. has hired Mark Adams to fill a newly created position as marketing manager for the company's retail channel, Rydex has announced. Adams most recently was director of institutional marketing at FolioFN of Vienna, Va.

J. Alan Reid, Jr. has been named president of Forward Funds of San Francisco. Reid was also appointed president of Webster Investment Management, which sponsors the Forward Funds. Previously, Reid was senior vice president and principal with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter of New York.

Until now, if a foreign fund company had a successful fund and wanted to give it exposure to the potentially lucrative U.S. marketplace, it has had to start from scratch and register a similar fund in the U.S. That may no longer be true. Julius Baer Group of Zurich may have found a way around that onerous process.