NEWS SCAN
TCW Yanks Emerging Markets Fund
TCW Funds, Inc. is liquidating the TCW Emerging Markets Equities Fund on August 31, according to a Securities and Exchange filing.
Mark H. Madden has been the portfolio manager for the fund since its inception in December 2009. The $15 million fund returned 0.37% year-to-date through June 29.
SteelPath Leads OppenheimerFunds to MLPs
OppenheimerFunds has signed an agreement to buy SteelPath Capital Management and SteelPath Fund Advisors, an energy infrastructure investments company focused on the Master Limited Partnership sector.
SteelPath offers a family of MLP-focused mutual funds as well as privately available products. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year.
Modeling Mutual Funds, Instead of Buying Them
Interactive Brokers says it now provides a tool that lets financial advisors create 'virtual' mutual funds.
This technology allows advisors to create virtual in-house mutual funds by grouping instruments into models, based on specific investment strategy criteria and to invest client funds into these advisor-constructed models. By simply trading the assets in the model, the advisor avoids having to trade for multiple client accounts separately, according to chairman Thomas Peterffy.
PRODUCTS
Huntington Offers Income Fund
Huntington Asset Advisors is launching Huntington Income Generation, an income-focused fund of funds, later this summer, according to Randy Bateman, president of Huntington Asset Advisors.
The new offering, which will invest in underlying funds managed by Huntington and have exposure to the currencies and options markets, is managed by Paula Jurcenko.
PIMCO Preps Mortgage Fund
PIMCO has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the PIMCO Mortgage Opportunities Fund.
The fund will bet on a portfolio of mortgage-related assets including residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and private label residential and commercial MBS, according to the filing. It also has exposure to high-yield securities as well as options, futures contracts, options on futures, fixed-income swap agreements, credit default swap agreements and other synthetic mortgage-related swap indices.
Global X Launches SuperIncome ETF
Global X Funds has launched the Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF, which will track 50 of the highest yielding preferred securities in North America.
Specifically, the fund will bet on the S&P Enhanced Yield North American Preferred Stock Index, which is comprised of U.S.- and Canada-traded preferred.
RESEARCH
Vanguard Dispels Claims of Speculative Retail ETF Trading
Exchange-traded funds do not turn long-term investors into speculative day traders, according to a Vanguard research paper.
In fact, the paper found that, contrary to what critics claim, the ETF "temptation effect"-the supposed tendency of investors to trade more after they choose the investment vehicle, because of the availability of intraday trading-is not a likely source of observed high trading volume activity among ETFs.
Ramius Advocates Multi-Manager Approach to Managed Futures
Want exposure to managed futures? Think multi-manager funds, according to a new white paper penned by William Marr and Alexander Rudin, principals of Ramius Trading Strategies.
The pair notes that a multi-manager approach, rather than a single-manager approach, is the way to go for investors looking for exposure to the asset class. "Currently investors have a choice between three approaches within the mutual fund space - index tracking, active single manager funds, and active multi-manager funds," they wrote.
ARRIVALS
Franklin Focuses On Gatekeepers, Consultants
Franklin Templeton Investments has named Andrew Ashton and Dennis Rothe to new roles overseeing consultant/gatekeeper relations and investment research for the company's International Advisory Services and North America Advisory Services divisions, respectively.
In his new role as head of Consultant and Research Group - International, Ashton will focus on Franklin Templeton's global consulting partners and cross-border financial institutions outside of North America.
Hancock Names Arnott To Succeed Hartstein
John Hancock Funds has named Andrew G. Arnott as president and chief executive officer, succeeding Keith F. Hartstein, who is retiring.
Most recently, Arnott served as executive vice president of John Hancock Investment Management Services, which oversees all third party and internal asset manager relationships across the John Hancock and Manulife investment platforms in the U.S. and Asia. Arnott worked closely with Hartstein in overseeing the positioning of the John Hancock mutual funds product line, and directing the research of economic, investment market and competitive trends. Succeeding Arnott as head of John Hancock IMS is Leo Zerilli, who joined John Hancock in 1997.
E&Y Beefs Up Asset Management Unit
Ernst & Young LLP has appointed Julie Canty and Carlos A. Schmidt as partners in the firm's Asset Management Tax practice. They will be the sixth and seventh senior professionals to join the expanding group in the U.S. this year.
Canty was formerly with Deloitte Tax LLP's New York hedge fund group, where she focused on tax advisory, compliance and structuring fund clients. Schmidt was with the Passthroughs group of the National Tax Office of Deloitte Tax LLP. He specialized in partnership tax matters with a specific focus on the formation and operation of hedge and private equity funds.
DEPARTURE
Schwab Snags Ex-Guggenheim ETF Exec
Charles Schwab Corp. is beefing up its exchange-traded fund business with a new hire from Guggenheim Investments, Reuters reports.
David Botset, former senior vice president, portfolio strategist, exchange-traded funds at Guggenheim, has joined the firm as its new director, product strategy and development, which is a new position. Botset reports to Jonathan de St. Paer, vice president of product strategy and development.
STATISTICS
$1.47B is the amount of money that investors took out of long-term U.S. domestic stock funds in the week ending July 11.
Global equities attracted $927 million of inflows. Bond funds saw $6.39 billion, out of which $5.22 billion went to taxable bonds and $1.17 billion to munis. In total, mutual funds saw inflows of $7.6 billion for the week.
SOURCE: Investment Company Institute
26.7% was the proportion of all actively managed European mutual funds (both equity and fixed income) that beat their benchmarks during the 1-year period ending December 2011.
Over the 3-year period, 40.0% outperformed their indices, while 34.9% outperformed during the 10-year period.
SOURCE: Ed Moisson, Head of UK & Cross-Border Research, Lipper
