Money Management Executive Latest News

American Century of Kansas City, Mo. has become the latest in a series of no-load fund companies to add C-shares, or level loads, to some of its funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's most recent letter to industry CFO's warns investment advisers and managers against falsely claiming that their performance history is in compliance with industry standards.

Money market funds had net new cash flows of $102.78 billion in January, and all-time record, according to the Investment Company Institute of Washington, D.C. That represents 75 percent of the total net cash flow into U.S. mutual funds in January and follows flows of only $16.42 billion into money market funds in December, according to the ICI.

Investors ran for cover during last year's fourth quarter, dampening the productivity of broker/dealers selling investment products through banks.

While the stated reason for Stilwell Financial's decision to buy back Janus employee stock was to redistribute equity within the company and offer existing managers some liquidity, the company's actual motives are a subject of speculation among industry observers.

Sloan Financial Group of Durham, N.C. has filed a lawsuit against a former employee charging him with breach of contract, committing fraud and conspiracy, and embezzling funds while he managed The New Africa Opportunity Fund, a $120 million private equity fund that was introduced in 1997.

The U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets, insurance and government-sponsored enterprises, chaired by Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.), will review securities-disclosure rules this year, Baker announced last month. Among those to be reviewed will be the "Regulation Fair Disclosure" that the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted last year.

Pioneer Investment Management of Boston is asking shareholders of the $183 million Pioneer Balanced Fund to approve hiring Prudential Investment Corporation of Newark, N.J. as the sub-adviser to the fund. If approved, the sub-advisory agreement is expected to take effect May 1. Prudential would assume the day-to-day management of the fund and would determine the asset allocation between the fund's equity and fixed-income portions, according to a Feb. 7 proxy filing by Pioneer.

Greg Ehret is principal with the exchange-traded funds division of State Street Global Advisors of Boston. Ehret recently discussed the growing popularity of exchange-traded funds, some of their advantages and drawbacks, and their future in the industry with Mutual Fund Market News reporter, Andrew Brent. An edited account of their conversation follows.

AIM Management Group, the Canadian operations of AIM Funds of Houston, announced that it has settled out of court a lawsuit it brought against a former employee, Derek Webb, and C.I. Fund Management of Toronto, according to a joint release from the companies. The terms of the settlement are confidential, the companies said.