Regulation

It's crunch time for mutual funds. With the Oct. 5 deadline for mutual funds to designate a chief compliance officer just two months away, fund executives are scrambling to get their policies and procedures in place. The question is are they ready?

The noise surrounding hedge fund registration grew to a thunderous clap last week, as Congress heard testimony from several industry professionals and government officials on the merits of such a groundbreaking move.

Just when the mutual fund scandal seemed to be offering little in the way of new twists and turns, the plot thickens.

Many Congressmen are finding out that when it comes to fund reform, "you can't always get what you want," as Mick Jagger sings.

Things went from bad to worse for Invesco Funds, as federal securities regulators announced plans to increase the number of individuals facing civil fraud charges.

In a little over 11 weeks, firms are going to have to hire a chief compliance officer, a requirement that could prove to be a tall task for fund shops, particularly smaller ones.

The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly may soon charge Fremont Investment Advisors and an ex-employee for late trading and market timing, the company said.

Investors have filed a class-action suit against Salomon Smith Barney for allegedly breaching its fiduciary duty between March 22, 1999 and March 22, 2004 by claiming its financial advisers were selling mutual funds objectively when, in fact, they were steering them into the firm's "inferior" proprietary family of more than 220 funds.

NEW YORK -- At a recent news conference held here, Calvert, a socially responsible investment management firm headquartered in Bethesda, Md., unveiled new corporate guidelines it created for the proper ethical and moral treatment of women workers. The news event was co-sponsored by Calvert and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which provides financial and technical support for the enhancement of women's rights.

Playing favorites and making quid pro quo deals have been longstanding practices in the financial services industry, and the 401(k) marketplace is not immune to its ill effects. As such, federal regulators have joined their state counterparts in examining the opaque nature of 401(k) fees and related revenue-sharing arrangements.