Money Management Executive Latest News

Mutual fund companies holding bonds in satellite telecommunications company Iridium LLC of Washington will now have a problem reconciling their holdings since Iridium filed for bankruptcy in early August.

FRC, a mutual fund research company in Boston, has issued a warning against a wrinkle in the new fund classification system which Lipper Inc. of Summit, N.J., is set to begin using next month.

Redemptions of long-term funds - stock, bond and hybrid funds - in the first half of 1999 reached nearly half a trillion dollars., according to the Investment Company Institute, the fund trade group in Washington, D.C. These redemptions soared by 46 percent to $498 billion, from $341 billion in the first half of 1998, according to ICI. These heavy redemptions counteracted an 18 percent rise in gross sales, effectively bringing net sales down by 37 percent, according to the ICI.

Standard & Poor's of New York has acquired a four-year-old mutual fund information and analysis provider in Japan, for an undisclosed amount. S&P said in a statement that the company, IFIS Inc. of Tokyo, is a leading provider of mutual fund analysis that includes "depth" and "local market knowledge."

Putnam Investments of Boston is offering more of its funds through fee-based advisors. The company has added C shares to 32 of its funds, almost doubling the number of funds it offers fee-based planners.

PricewaterhouseCoopers of New York has acquired a part of the accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen LLP of Minneapolis in a deal announced last week.

MFS Mutual Funds of Boston will soon be offering a service that will allow fund holders to use the firm's website to purchase additional shares of funds they already own, a firm spokesperson said.

Investment advisers who get caught trying to steer pension business their way by showering elected officials with campaign cash may be forced to work without fees under a new rule proposed by the SEC.

State Street Corp. of Boston announced that it has met its targets to renovate and test its business and technology systems for the year 2000.

Fidelity Investments of Boston is implementing new technology that will allow for interactive customer service through its Web site.