Money Management Executive Latest News

Although exchange-traded funds will not supplant mutual funds in the near future, they will be the driving force behind industry changes in the next decade, creating opportunities for some firms and threatening others, according to a recent study.

Fidelity fund customers will be able to gain access to their accounts and buy and trade fund shares through wireless devices by late summer, making Fidelity the first fund company to both provide fund customers information and enable them to gain access to their accounts over wireless devices, according to Fidelity Investments of Boston.

Given the paltry rates banks are paying on savings accounts, it is no wonder America's savings rate is so low. But Bank of New York has introduced a new product that bolsters the return on money deposited with it by tying those deposits to money market mutual funds.

The Lord Abbett Equity Fund, a ten-year-old insured mutual fund with $55 million in assets, was merged out of existence on May 31, according to a proxy filing May 25. Shareholders voted to merge the Lord Abbett Equity Fund into the Lord Abbett Large Cap Growth Fund, a similar fund, on May 26.

The McGraw-Hill Companies of New York, parent company of Standard & Poor's, filed a lawsuit against Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa. charging that Vanguard breached the 15-year-old licensing agreement it had with S&P by registering a new class of exchange-traded shares on three of Vanguard's equity index funds without the index creator's approval.

Liberty Financial of Boston has agreed to purchase Wanger Asset Management of Chicago for $450 million, the companies announced last week.

Investors began to show unease with the stock market's continuing poor performance in May by reducing net inflows into equity mutual funds to $20.7 billion during the month, according to early estimates by TrimTabs.com of Santa Rosa, Calif.

An SEC administrative law judge has sanctioned two executives of the now defunct Target Income Fund of Glendora, Calif. for their role in filing registration statements on behalf of the fund that failed to include significant facts.

Schroder Investment Management of North America is eliminating its advisor share class on most of the twelve Schroder funds it manages, said Cathie Mazza, a spokesperson for Schroder Funds of New York.

The Quant Funds group of Lincoln, Mass. has lowered the minimum initial investment to open an account in any of its six mutual funds, provided the account is opened online at the funds website. The minimum initial online investment was reduced to $500 from $2,500 beginning June 1. The reduction will continue until January 1, 2001.