Executive Briefings

NEWSCAN

Brown Bros. Closes 5-Star Fund

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. is looking to close the BBH Core Select fund (BBTEX, BBTRX) to new investors when total net assets in the fund reach approximately $3.5 billion. The fund currently manages $3.3 billion in assets and sports a Morningstar 5-star rating.

According to the firm, the BBH Core Select fund has "bucked the trend" of other large-cap core funds in 2012, with more than $1.5 billion in new assets through the end of August. According to Lipper, the large-cap core category has experienced estimated outflows over that same time frame of more than $50 billion.

How to Avoid Personal Liability? Involve Other Persons

BOSTON - Want to avoid personal liability in, for instance, properly valuing the assets in funds you manage?

Involve other persons in the process is the "simple answer,'' legal analysts such as Todd Cipperman, principal of Cipperman Compliance Services, and Joanna Catalucci, managing director of compliance at Guggenheim Investments, say.

Investors Well Positioned for ... 2008

BOSTON - Investors have been stowing away cash and piling into bond funds. That may give them peace of mind.

But it's looking backward, not forward, said Dr. Jerry Webman, chief economist of the Oppenheimer Funds at the NICSA general membership meeting here.

Clifford Earns NICSA Lifetime Achievement Award

BOSTON - NICSA Wednesday presented Jan Clifford, former president of the MFS Service Center, with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Clifford, who began her career in 1973 at Boston Financial Data Services, has been regarded as the "strongest operational person in our industry,'' during the midst of contributions to the fund industry, said George Gorman, former board chairman of the National Investment Service Company Association.

London Firm Buys U.S. Asset Manager

London-based Northill Capital has agreed to buy a majority interest in Riverbridge Partners, a Minneapolis-based specialist investment manager of small, mid and large cap US equity growth portfolios for institutional and high net worth investors.

Riverbridge also reportedly plans to launch a mutual fund version of its Riverbridge All Cap Growth Portfolio in January.

BOND Grows At Record Pace

The fast-growing PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) hit yet another milestone last week in crossing the $3 billion mark in assets, Morningstar reports.

The seven-month old ETF currently is the largest active ETF, distancing its sibling PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Strategy ETF (MINT), which has a little more than $2 billion in assets, according to Morningstar. WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt (ELD) trails both PIMCO ETFs with about $1.36 billion in assets, which is good for third place.

ClearBridge Distances Itself From Struggling Legg Mason

ClearBridge Advisors the largest manager of equity funds at parent company Legg Mason, apparently wants to cut the apron strings, announcing it would drop the "Legg Mason" name from all its U.S. funds over the next few months.

The move is part of "a larger effort by Legg Mason to highlight the brand identities of its affiliated investment managers in its product names," the company said in a statement.

PRODUCTS

NY Firm Offers Emerging Market ETF

EGShares, the ETF arm of Emerging Global Advisors, launched a new emerging market ETF that-in a twist-will track an investment index rather than a benchmark index.

The new ETF, the Emerging Markets Core ETF (EMCR) will track the S&P Emerging Markets Core Index, which has less industry and mature economy concentration than conventional benchmarks such as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the FTSE Emerging Index.

Scout Sets Sights On Emerging Markets

Kansas City, Mo.-based Scout Investments has launched the Scout Emerging Markets Fund (SEMFX), becoming one of the latest new funds seeking to capitalize on growing investor interest in emerging market plays.

The new fund will carry a net expense ratio of 140 basis points, and is managed by Mark Weber, the lead portfolio manager for the fund. It will bet on between 35 and 50 companies that it identifies as likely beneficiaries of multi-year trends in emerging market growth and maturation.

Vanguard Offers TIPS Fund

Vanguard is offering investors a way to hedge against future inflation with today's launch of the Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund (VTIP), in four share classes, including ETF Shares.

The new fund will strive to track the performance of the Barclays U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, a market-weighted index that measures the performance of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury notes that have a remaining maturity of less than five years.

RESEARCH

Invesco Casts New Light on ETFs

A new finding by Invesco is sure to make a few exchange-traded fund providers smile.

That's because Registered Investment Advisers expect to see increased usage of ETFs in client portfolios, while aversion to risk remains high, according to results of the RIA Market Research Study.

Equity Funds Stop Bleeding, A Bit

Long-term mutual funds experienced inflows of $7.04 billion for the week ended Wednesday, October 10, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Outflows from equity funds dropped to $2.61 billion for the week, compared to estimated outflows of $11.22 billion in the previous week.

ARRIVALS

MFS Expands DCIO Unit

MFS Investment Management has expanded its Defined Contribution Investments Only specialist sales team from seven to nine, with the addition of new positions in the Mid-West and Southeast.

Specifically, Philip Stewart has joined the firm as a DCIO specialist, responsible for DCIO sales in the Mid-West, based in Minneapolis. David Bryant, formerly an inside DCI0 specialist, has been promoted to DCIO specialist, focused on the Southeast. Prior to joining MFS, Stewart spent 16 years with Wells Fargo, the last seven of which were spent working directly with advisors and retirement consultants in the DC. Bryant joined MFS in 2008 as an internal wholesaler and was named an internal DCIO specialist in 2010.

Lord, Abbett Unveils New Partners

Lord, Abbett & Co. has added nine new partners to its executive team.

The new partners include: Christoph Kuehne, Director of Investment Operations; Steven Raimer, Director of Due Diligence; Dan Reeves, Regional Manager, Private Wealth Group; Dale Sang, Director of Investment Technology; James Sansevero, Director of Brand Management; Leah Traub, director of currency management; Daniel Vande Velde, portfolio manager, investments; Arthur Weise, portfolio manager, investments; and Kewjin Yuoh, portfolio manager, investments.

Herzfeld Advisors Unveils New Distribution Chief

Miami-based investment advisor Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors has hired asset management and mutual fund industry veteran, Robert Adler as its head of distribution, a newly created position.

In the new position, Adler will work to create partnerships for the firm and assist in growing its assets under management. He will report to firm founder and president Thomas Herzfeld.

STATISTICS

62.4% of advisors said they go to news and industry sites such as Bloombreg, Yahoo!

Finance and WSJ.com for information on asset managers.

SOURCE: kasina

$32B flowed into bond mutual funds in September and bond funds are projected

to more than $300 billion in net inflows for the full year, exceeding 2010 and 2011 pace.

SOURCE: Strategic Insight

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