NEWS SCAN
No Active ETFs for T. Rowe, Yet
T. Rowe Price Group has no immediate plans to begin offering active exchange-traded funds, the Baltimore Business Journal reports.
T. Rowe obtained approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission last year allowing it to offer active ETFs. But the mutual fund giant has no current plans to begin offering this type of investment, said Chairman Edward Bernard, during a shareholder's meeting.
Hackers Down Schwab's Website
A flood of traffic took down Charles Schwab & Co.'s website late last Tuesday.
At approximately 3:45 p.m. EST, the brokerage's website experienced a denial-of-service attack, which is essentially when hackers flood a website with traffic causing the server to become slow or crash.
The issue prevented Schwab's brokerage customers from making trades as well as took the site offline for the general public. The company said phone access to its service professionals was available during the crash, although for a brief time immediately before market close call volumes were high.
Franklin Templeton: Viva Mexico!
Franklin Templeton has struck a deal to acquire a $1.1 billion investment management firm in Mexico. Heyman y Asociados, led by Timothy Heyman, will become part of Franklin Templeton Asset Management Mexico, Franklin Templeton's mutual fund management company in Mexico.
Heyman y Asociados, manages pension funds, endowment funds, reserves and treasury funds, for Mexican and multinational corporations, Mexican educational, environmental, healthcare and other non-profit institutions, and for Mexican insurance companies.
Waddell & Reed Breaks $100B in AUM
Executives at Waddell & Reed Financial have a few billion reasons to smile. The firm last week reported that its assets under management broke $100 billion during the first quarter and reached $103.8 billion.
The Overland Park, KS-based firm reported sales of $6.8 billion, representing a multi-year high, having only exceeded that level once, during the first quarter of 2008. Net inflows of $2.1 billion represent an annualized organic growth rate of nearly 9%.
Southwire Ties Up BlackRock's Copper ETF
Southwire Co., the privately-held wire and cable manufacturer, has asked a U.S. court to review a regulatory decision that cleared the way for BlackRock's planned exchange-traded fund backed by copper.
The Carrollton, Georgia-based company said that the order by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February will "lead to an investor-financed squeeze of the market" for copper, according to a petition dated April 18 with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The company said it will seek to have the SEC decision vacated.
PRODUCTS
Old Mutual Launches Dividend Fund
Old Mutual Global Investors has restructured the Skandia US All Cap Value Fund as the Old Mutual US Dividend Fund. The fund is sub-advised by value fund manager Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, which is an affiliate of the Old Mutual Group.
The fund, which is a sub-fund of the Dublin-domiciled Old Mutual Global Investors Series plc, bets on large capitalization US stocks and is benchmarked to the Russell 1000 Value Index and S&P 500 Index. Its lead portfolio manager of the fund is Ray Nixon.
William Blair Offers Global Small Cap Fund
William Blair & Company last week unveiled the newest addition to its mutual fund family: the William Blair Global Small Cap Growth Fund.
The fund, to be managed by Andrew Flynn and Matthew Litfin, will use an active, high-conviction approach that bets on companies characterized by organic value creation, consistent earnings growth, and high returns on capital and assets, according to the firm. It will be benchmarked against the MSCI AC World Small Cap Index.
RESEARCH
Mutual Funds Gain $3.66 Billion
Total estimated inflows to long-term mutual funds were $3.66 billion for the week ended Wednesday, April 17, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Equity funds picked up steam from the previous week and had estimated inflows of $2.39 billion for the week, compared to estimated inflows of $1.54 billion in the previous week. Bond fund inflows dipped a bit to $1.51 billion, compared to estimated inflows of $1.71 billion during the previous week. But hybrid funds experienced outflows of $246 million for the week, compared to estimated inflows of $1.37 billion in the previous week.
ARRIVALS
RidgeWorth Hires Chief Marketer
Atlanta-based RidgeWorth Investments has hired Ian Bachrach to fill the role of Managing Director of Marketing, responsible for all aspects of RidgeWorth's marketing. He will report to Jim Stueve, president of RidgeWorth Investments.
Previously, Bachrach spent the past nine years at Cetera Financial Group in various roles, most recently implementing strategic marketing programs for its wealth management platform.
FASB's Next Chairman is Golden
Russell Golden was named as the next chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, effective July 1. Golden will succeed current FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman, whose term ends on June 30.
Golden's initial term as FASB chairman will extend to June 30, 2017. He has served as a FASB member since his appointment in September 2010. Earlier, he was a partner at Deloitte & Touche.
SEC Names Co-Directors for Enforcement Division
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced that Acting Director George Canellos and former federal prosecutor Andrew Ceresney have been named Co-Directors of the Division of Enforcement.
Canellos has been serving as Acting Director since January, and previously had been the division's Deputy Director since June 2012.
Most recently, Ceresney served as a partner in the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, where he focused on representing entities and individuals in white collar criminal and SEC investigations, complex civil litigation and internal corporate investigations.
BMO Steps Up DCIO Game
BMO Global Asset Management has expanded its Defined Contribution Investment Only team with the appointment of two new regional sales managers. Mark Bryant and Tim Higgins will be overseeing BMO Retirement Services' Western and Eastern U.S. regions, respectively.
Bryant hails from Columbia Management where he served in the same capacity. He is based in Minneapolis.
Higgins most recently served as a National Accounts Manager for the DCIO efforts of a Allianz Global Investors. he is based in Boston.
DEPARTURE
Fidelity PM Off the Grid
Bruce Dirks, former portfolio manager at Fidelity Management & Research Company, has agreed to join ViaSat, a provider of mobile satellite network services, as chief financial officer. At Fidelity, Dirks oversaw the multimanager sector specialist teams running the Fidelity Stock Selector Large Cap Value (FSLVX).
