Money Management Executive Latest News

Nuveen Investments of Chicago plans to introduce the first exchange-traded funds to track U.S. Treasury indexes, according to the company. The five new funds, called Fixed Income Trust Receipts, will be based on indexes of one, two, five and 10-year treasury issues and 20-year STRIPs - separately-traded registered interest and principal securities, Nuveen said.

Total U.S. mutual fund assets continued to fall in November, according to the Investment Company Institute of Washington, D.C. Mutual fund assets, which have decreased for the past three months, dropped 5.2 percent to $6.6826 trillion in November, the lowest total since November, 1999, according to the ICI.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is making minor changes to the new Form ADV rules it adopted in September requiring investment advisers to file the form electronically, the SEC announced late last month.

A. Michael Lipper, who sold his fund research company to Reuters two years ago, has left the company, according to Sean McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the company. Lipper continued working at the firm to ensure a smooth transition after the acquisition by Reuters of New York in 1998, McLaughlin said. Lipper was on a consulting contract, which expired Dec. 31, McLaughlin said.

State Farm Insurance of Bloomington, Ill. has announced that it has begun offering 10 State Farm mutual funds in North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Kansas. State Farm Insurance plans to offer the mutual funds to customers throughout the United States by March, according to the company.

New web-based services that many fund companies have introduced, such as online investment advice and the ability to open accounts online, are becoming increasingly popular with mutual fund investors, according to a study by American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo.

Richard Brown has been named chief financial officer of John Hancock Funds of Boston. Brown has been with John Hancock since 1971, most recently as second vice president and senior associate controller of the corporate tax department at John Hancock Financial Services of Boston, John Hancock Funds' parent company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted new independent directors rules that will require that a fund board's membership be made up of a majority of independent directors instead of the current 40 percent requirement.

When Arthur Levitt announced that he was stepping down as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Washington lawyers predictably began speculating on his replacement almost immediately. It might be some time, however, before President-elect George Bush makes the appointment.

Market volatility has forced stock fund managers to convert a greater percentage of their holdings into cash, sending liquidity ratios to a two-year high in November, according to industry analysts.