Money Management Executive Latest News

OppenheimerFunds of New York plans to eliminate numerous investment restrictions on all of its funds by applying standard investment guidelines to the funds, according to a July 13 proxy filing with the SEC.

The Investment Company Institute of Washington D.C. has until July 31 to respond to a lawsuit filed by two shareholders alleging the organization is in violation of federal security laws, according to Ronald Rubin who is representing one of the shareholders. The ICI is expected to file a motion seeking a dismissal of the suit, said Rubin.

Kenneth J. Berman, 45, associate director of the SEC's division of investment management, will leave his post in August to become a partner with Debevoise & Plimpton in Washington, D.C., according to the SEC. Berman will work in the firm's investment management practice.

SooHee Lee has been promoted to vice president for sub-advisory services at Delaware Investments of Philadelphia. Lee was previously a vice president and product manager in Delaware's retail investor services unit.

If funds want to offer exchange-traded funds, they might be wise to follow SSB Citi Asset Management Group of New York and Whatifi.com of San Francisco and start by launching traditional index funds, according to some industry analysts.

Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston is testing software that can aggregate an individual's financial data from both Scudder and non-Scudder sources on a single spreadsheet.

Money market mutual funds have quietly begun taking out insurance as a means of further safeguarding these conservative instruments, industry executives said.

Pilgrim Investments of Phoenix, Ariz. is asking shareholders to approve large increases in the advisory fees for two of its best performing funds. The increased fees will help the firm retain investment talent and expand its capabilities, according to a July 13 proxy.

Fund companies are increasing their efforts to provide advice to 401(k) plan participants in order to develop a relationship that will steer a greater percentage of the assets rolled over from 401(k) plans to them, according to industry analysts.

Slowing growth of the mutual fund industry, a large number of funds on the market, disappointing share prices of publicly-traded asset management firms and competition from other types of financial service companies have prompted a recent spate of mergers and acquisitions, according to analysts.