Money Management Executive Latest News

The Year 2000 computer problem may be delaying the development of web sites of mutual fund firms, according to a study being conducted by the e-commerce unit of McGladrey & Pullen, LLP of New York. Good web site design has been in short supply because of the attention being given to the Y2K problem, according to Steven Miyao, director of the e-business solutions group at McGladrey & Pullen. Fund site design should start to improve after the first quarter of 2000 when more money and human resources can be dedicated to Internet commerce, he said.

Nomura IBJ Global Investment Advisors of New York plans to offer by year-end defined contribution pension plans modeled on 401(k) plans in the U.S. Nomura IBJ Global is a joint venture between Nomura Securities and the Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd., both headquartered in Tokyo.

Tom Holland has joined State Street Research & Management Co. of Boston as senior vice president of retail operations. Holland was previously with Putnam Investments of Boston as senior vice president of the communication service department, in charge of a 400-person call center, Putnam's web site and written shareholder communications.

The best-known holdout against mutual fund B shares - Capital Research and Management Co. of Los Angeles - is taking steps which would make it possible for the group's American Funds to add that increasingly popular sales charge option.

The Pax World Funds family of Portsmouth, N.H. hit a milestone when its assets under management climbed to $1 billion on July 14. But, the family is still anxious to increase the assets of its two-year-old, $16 million Pax World Growth Fund.

Morningstar, the fund tracking firm in Chicago, may soon try to bring market impact costs to the attention of investors, right along with rates of return, fees and its star ratings.

Shareholders of four Fidelity funds are being asked to reconsider approval of PricewaterhouseCoopers of New York as the funds' independent auditor in light of new revelations that raise questions about the independence of the accounting firm in its role as auditor to the funds.

BOSTON - It was in 1943, at a time when one million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on the busiest of days and only a handful of firms sold mutual funds, that Paul Cabot, a founder of the open-end mutual fund industry, decided his firm needed a fourth analyst to support its six partners.

NEW YORK - Scudder Kemper Investments of New York successfully thwarted an attempt by arbitrageur Phillip Goldstein to stop a shareholder vote that combined the issues of whether to open a fund and impose a redemption fee on those cashing out of the newly-opened fund.

PFPC Worldwide, the pooled investment products and mutual fund administration, transfer agency and back office servicing unit of PNC Bank Corp. in Pittsburgh, has agreed to purchase First Data Investor Services Group for $1.1 billion in cash. Investor Services Group is the investment product servicing arm of First Data Corp. of Atlanta, one of the largest electronic payment and processing services companies. PFPC is based in Wilmington, Del.