Money Management Executive Latest News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt last month said the SEC would produce the "hard" evidence of auditing problems that Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, called for to justify the commission's proposed independent auditor rules.

The Orbitex Group of Funds of New York last week introduced the Orbitex Life Sciences & Biotechnology Fund. Orbitex' first interval fund will invest in small- to mid-sized companies in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical research and biotechnology research, development and implementation, the company said.

The two most important policy differences between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush that could affect mutual fund investment are tax cuts and social security reform. Bush is promising a dramatic tax cut for all tax payers, while Gore is promising a narrower tax cut for middle income earners. Bush is calling for some privatization of social security while Gore is advocating expanding other types of retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and providing incentives for individuals to invest in these plans by offering government matching funds.

Net flows into long-term equity and fixed-income mutual funds in August rose 33.5 percent to $20.15 billion, up from $15.09 billion in July, according to the Investment Company Institute of Washington, D.C.

MaxFunds.com of Ann Arbor, Mich., a website that tracks small and new mutual funds, has launched 12 portfolios of securities that will be managed by investment professionals whose investment decisions will be available to consumers for a $2 monthly fee, said Jim Atkinson, president of MaxFunds.com.

The Bank of New York has completed the acquisition of Ivy Asset Management of Garden City, NY., the bank announced last week. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Shareholders of the $27 million Matthew 25 Fund have voted down, by more than a five to one margin, a proxy proposal that would have required both inside and independent directors to invest at least $25,000 in the fund as a prerequisite to serving on the fund's board. (MFMN 10/2/00)

Firstar Corporation of Milwaukee has agreed to merge with U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis through an exchange of shares valued at $21.2 billion, Firstar announced last week. The transaction, in which Firstar will exchange 1.265 shares of common stock for each share of U.S. Bancorp common stock in a tax-free exchange, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2001, Firstar said.

The Invesco Funds Group of Denver is asking shareholders to approve plans to liquidate two international funds because of the funds' poor growth prospects, lack of assets and inconsistencies with Invesco's investment style, according to a proxy statement the firm filed with the SEC last week. Shareholders will vote at a meeting Nov. 27 to liquidate the Invesco Latin American Growth Fund and the Invesco Pacific Basin Fund.

Fund supermarkets will account for at least 25 percent of annual net new inflows to British authorized funds by 2004, according to a report by Cerulli Associates of Boston.