Money Management Executive Latest News

Rodger A. Lawson, 63, president of Fidelity Investments since 2007, will step down in March. The fund giant will likely select one or possibly three successors from its executive committee, Lawson announced in a briefing Wednesday.

Jefferies on Wednesday launched the TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Wildcatters Energy E&P Equity Index and trades on NYSE Arca.

Fitch Ratings has revised its ratings on seven money market funds to its highest score, following the launch of its new rating criteria and rating scale.

Financial institutions will increase information technology spending 2.9% in 2010, after cutting budgets by 2.5% in 2009, according to research and consulting firm Celent.

With so many investors burned by the across-the-board dismal performance of 2008 and continued volatility into 2009, more are likely to conduct due diligence on hedge funds and exercise greater market discipline, said speakers at a recent conference hosted by Cayman Islands law firm Walkers.

The Supreme Court decided not to review a 401(k) fee lawsuit against Deere and Fidelity that was dismissed by a U.S. District Court in 2007, and again rebuffed a U.S. Court of Appeals a year ago.

The mutual fund industry is taking issue with a House bill that would permit the Federal Reserve to step in to regulate large funds that pose “a grave threat to the financial stability or economy of the U.S.”

American consumer confidence rose sharply earlier this month to the highest level it has been at since September 2008, according to the RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index. In fact, the index was boosted by the largest single month gain in job expectations since the index was created eight years ago.

Given the opportunity to approach their retirement savings again, 51% of affluent Americans who have retired said they would have preferred to have focused on life goals rather than a retirement number, Merrill Lynch found in a survey. However, the remaining 49% still believe in zeroing in on the numbers.

DST Systems and Blue Frog Solutions have partnered on an annuity order management compliance solution for independent intermediaries, through DST Vision.