Money Management Executive Latest News

A plan of Zurich Scudder of Boston to add 12b-1 fees to several Kemper and Scudder funds will allow the firm to skirt potential problems with regulators and should create new distribution opportunities, according to industry executives and analysts.

As Arthur Levitt's resignation from the chairmanship of the Securities and Exchange Commission took effect earlier this month, assessments of his eight-year legacy varied widely. While some hailed Levitt - the commission's longest serving chairman ever - as an outstanding chairman who established a new standard for the commission's role in shareholder advocacy, others criticized him for both not sufficiently upholding shareholder interests and for going overboard in doing so.

Few in the fund industry would argue that performance makes selling a fund much easier, but executives selling bear market funds would disagree. Since the Nasdaq and S&P 500 began declining early last year, bear market funds have, for the most part, enjoyed improved performance, as they are designed to do in a downward market.

Revenue from sales of mutual funds in banks fell more than 27 percent from the third quarter of 2000 to the last quarter of the year.

Three mutual fund companies with U.S. parents, Fidelity Investments of Boston, Chase Fleming Asset Management of Romford, England and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers of London, top the list of best recognized mutual fund names in Europe, according to a recent survey. However, one of those companies apparently achieved this status by virtue of the European company it recently acquired.

AIM Management Group of Houston has filed to register a new closed-end mutual fund that will cater to wealthy investors seeking alternative types of investments.

Proposed laws to boost incentives for saving for retirement and to pare fees on securities transactions top the wish list of the financial services industry for the current Congress.

Manuel Somoza, president and general director of Prudential Apolo of Mexico City, is confident that some of the dramatic changes occurring in Mexico will spur growth in the country's fund industry. But in a country that suffers an economic crisis with every new president and whose economy seems to nearly drown every time the U.S. economy weakens, many people are skeptical that there will be change. But this time it is different, according to Somoza.

Lipper of Summit, N.J. has announced changes in its fund classification model. The company will modify the model for open-end domestic equity funds as well as extend its portfolio-based classification model to include closed-end funds and variable insurance products, according to the company.

The American Stock Exchange announced last week that it will create a joint venture with Euronext, the first pan-European exchange, to list and cross trade U.S., European and other international exchange-traded funds.