Money Management Executive Latest News

The Investment Company Institute is violating federal securities laws by collecting membership fees from mutual funds while allowing the organization to be dominated by mutual fund advisory firms, according to a lawsuit two shareholders filed against the trade group last week.

Five large mutual fund companies are about to begin using data mining software that follows shareholder behavior to pick up shifts that might signal customer dissatisfaction and possible redemptions, according to Patrick Baldasare, president of @Risk of Berwyn, Pa., the maker of the software. @Risk's software also attempts to determine customers' tastes, so that fund companies can cross-sell targeted funds and services to shareholders, Baldasare said.

X.com Asset Management of Palo Alto, Calif., adviser to the X.com online mutual funds, is asking its shareholders to approve a 260 percent increase to the unitary fee it charges on its online money market fund, the X.com U.S.A. Money Market Fund. X.com is proposing to raise the fund's advisory fee from 0.50 percent to 1.80 percent so that it can cover the costs of extra services it expects to soon make available to its fund shareholders.

The Internet may be a place to conduct securities transactions at low cost but it does not appear to be a popular choice for investors who are seeking advice about financial matters, according to a new survey conducted for Putnam Investments of Boston.

In a May 29 article on the direction of fund advertising, Mark A Beeson was incorrectly identified. His correct title is senior managing director for the One Group Mutual Funds of Columbus, Ohio.

With the launch of its $12 million advertising campaign to promote its exchange-traded funds, Barclay's Global Investors of Boston is going after retail investors for the first time, said Lee Kranefuss, the CEO of Barclays individual investor group.

NEW YORK - Creative, catchy and selectively-placed advertisements in prestigious, upscale media can enable even a small mutual fund family to compete with the mutual fund Goliaths that spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising, said Victor Ugolyn, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Enterprise Group of Funds of Atlanta.

The Warburg Pincus Funds of New York is planning to add two new technology funds - including a tech index fund - and a financial services fund to its lineup.

The SEC plans to issue the first in a series of legal bulletins on investment adviser advertising practices by Dec. 31.

Most employees changing jobs would rather roll their 401(k) assets into another retirement investment rather than cash out of the plan, according to a recent survey released by American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo.