Money Management Executive Latest News

Charles E. Haldeman, Jr., president and chief operating officer of UAM, announced his resignation last week, after less than two years on the job. He will become chief executive officer of Delaware Investments and Lincoln National Investment Companies of Philadelphia, effective Jan. 3, according to UAM.

Prudential Insurance of Newark, N.J. has announced that as the result of a collaboration with Palm Computing, investors will be able to obtain information on all of the company's mutual funds using a palm pilot organizer.

Merrill Lynch Asset Management of New York is planning to offer new mutual funds that will be run by two well-known money managers who joined the firm recently, Robert Doll and Jim McCall, according to two SEC filings.

Jundt Associates of Minneapolis, Minn., the adviser to four growth oriented load-funds, plans to begin offering a no-load family of funds next year. The American Eagle Funds will include two growth funds. One of these may use leverage to increase its returns, according to a registration statement filed with the SEC Nov. 19. The new funds include the Capital Appreciation Fund, which may sell short and use other techniques to increase its leverage in investing in growth stocks, and the Twenty Fund. The Twenty Fund will invest in approximately 20 stocks, primarily of U.S. growth companies.

Steven Sitkowski has been named president of Empire Investment Advisors, a new division of Empire Financial Group of Longwood, Fla. that will provide investors with investment advice and portfolio management. Sitkowski will also continue in his role as national sales manager for Empire Financial Group.

The SEC is expected to issue guidance soon on how mutual funds should value their securities, an issue of critical importance to the fund industry that the SEC has not systematically addressed in more than 25 years.

The investment performance of technology companies is giving the mutual fund industry a healthy boost this year, providing unprecedented sales for technology funds as a sector and creating new product opportunities for fund companies.

Industry executives largely agree that international standards or reciprocity agreements between countries allowing funds to be sold internationally are a long way from becoming a reality.

A couple of new mutual fund companies have done what could be a risky maneuver - launching a website that mentions a fund before the fund has been approved by the SEC.

Access to the Internet is becoming more commonplace, but mutual fund investors with Internet access are not buying and selling funds online in growing numbers, according to a new survey from American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo.