Money Management Executive Latest News

BOSTON - While fund companies have traditionally sold differently to the broker/dealer and registered investment advisor channels, fund companies' wholesalers should begin selling to broker/dealers in the same manner as they do to registered investment advisors, said fund executives.

The Vanguard Group of Valley Forge, Penn. had net sales of $2.6 billion in October, making it the top selling fund group for the month, according to the Financial Research Corporation of Boston.

The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York has granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit charging Prudential Life Insurance Company of America of Newark, N.J. with attaching excessive fees to its variable annuities.

Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco is adding 10 new exchange-traded funds to its line up of iShares exchange-traded funds, according to a preliminary prospectus filed late last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Talvest Fund Management of Montreal has announced that it has combined four equity funds into a single new fund, the Talvest Cdn. Multi Management Fund.

The Vanguard Group of Valley Forge, Pa. has redesigned its website, vanguard.com, in an effort to improve institutional and retail investors' ability to navigate the site, the firm announced recently.

Jon Bartholomew was named vice president, retirement sales of Nvest Funds of Boston after serving as a regional vice president there. Before joining Nvest, Bartholomew was program director for Retirement Plan Strategies of Braintree, Mass.

Pilgrim Baxter & Associates of Wayne, Pa., a subsidiary of United Asset Management Corp. of Boston, has filed a proxy with the SEC seeking to merge its PBHG International Fund into the PBHG Global Technology and Communications Fund. The consolidation is pending shareholder approval.

While the Internet is providing a greater degree of convenience for 401(k) plan participants, it is also increasing the occurrence of market timing and turnover within retirement plans, according to a recent study by Hewitt Associates of Lincolnshire, Ill.

External managers dominate and will continue to dominate the variable annuity industry, according to a recently published report by Financial Research Corporation of Boston.