Money Management Executive Latest News

Despite the painful headlines, government bailouts and predictions of a flood of advisors going independent, wirehouses have retained both advisors and high-net-worth assets and will continue to dominate this space, according to a new report by Cerulli Associates.

The House’s decision to extend the current estate tax rate did not come as a surprise to industry observers, who never believed the government would allow the tax to expire altogether and give up the much needed revenue.

Managers of 529 college-savings plans have always competed on fees, but the latest round of the bidding war promises to be the most intense.

Total assets of money market mutual funds fell by $8.36 billion to $3.319 trillion for the week ending Dec. 2 as retail and institutional investors sought out greater yields, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is working on considerable 12b-1 reform for 2010 that could go beyond mere disclosure or a more appropriate name for the fees, Chairman Mary Schapiro told the Consumer Federation of America’s 21st Annual Financial Services Conference. One recent suggestion for reforming the fees was to rename them “marketing and fund promotion fees.”

Investment consulting firms polled by the Social Investment Forum said their clients are increasingly interested in environmental, social and governance investing (ESG). Fifty-six percent of respondents noted a growing interest among their clients in integrating ESG criteria in their investment policies over the last 12 months, and 88% expect growing client interest in the next three years.

Pacific Investment Management Co. is the latest company to jump into the municipal bond exchange-traded fund business.

The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund has formed an alliance with VolunteerMatch whereby visitors to Fidelity’s website, www.charitablegift.org, find a link to VolunteerMatch’s website, where they can discover volunteer opportunities with 73,000 participating organizations nationwide.

Great-West Retirement Services has won New Hampshire’s 457 account, serving 5,800 state employees with more than $170 million in assets.

Investors continued to pour money into long-term mutual funds for the 37th week in a row, adding an additional $7.33 billion in the week ended Nov. 24, according to the Investment Company Institute. That brings total sales for the period to $377 billion.