Money Management Executive Latest News

Charles Schwab & Co. of San Francisco has reached an agreement with OffRoad Capital Corporation, also of San Francisco, to offer private equity investments to Schwab customers.

Robert D. Van Kampen, general partner and CEO of Nike Securities L.P. of Lisle, Ill., and founder of Van Kampen Mutual Funds of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., died Oct. 29 of a heart condition, according to a statement by Nike Securities. He was 60.

Rhonda Rosen has joined Putnam, Lovell, de Guardiola & Thornton of San Francisco as a managing director in the investment banking/mergers & acquisitions group. Rosen was previously with CIBC World Markets of New York.

E*Trade Funds of Palo Alto, Calif. has asked the SEC to permit the fund group to automatically redeem shareholders who, after investing in an E*Trade fund, seek paper rather than electronic copies of fund documents.

Only three mutual funds track the Dow Jones Industrial Average while 118 funds track the S&P 500, according to Lipper of Summit, N.J. However, because the change in the Dow index that took effect Nov. 1 is likely to greatly improve its performance, a number of mutual fund companies might bring Dow Jones index funds to market, according to portfolio managers and researchers.

A NASD Regulation proposal to prohibit broker/dealers from paying their registered representatives more for selling the broker/dealer's own mutual funds than for selling outside funds has run into opposition from trade groups representing the securities and mutual fund industries.

If the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 is enacted, mutual fund companies will buy insurance and banking companies while at the same time becoming acquisition targets of those same firms, industry consultants say. The bill would spur a race to offer clients a wide array of investment products, they say.

Several of the largest financial services companies, including Fidelity Management & Research Corp. of Boston and Aetna of Hartford, Conn., have recently been granted federal thrift charters. The charters allow these firms to operate federal savings banks and expand product offerings to customers nationwide.

Gartmore Investment Management of London, the pension and investment management unit of National Westminster Bank, also of London, is for sale.

TORONTO - Amid weak sales, the only large shift in market share in the Canadian fund industry in the third quarter came through acquisition. The takeover of BPI Financial of Toronto lifted C.I. Fund Management, also of Toronto, to tenth in the industry, up from 13th at mid-year, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.