Regulation

WASHINGTON - Maintaining more realistic expectations about mutual fund returns will be a critical step toward rejuvenating investor confidence.

WASHINGTON - Hedge fund representatives at the recent Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable on hedge funds adamantly denied the need for increased oversight of their industry. Others at the meeting lobbied for regulators to ease current restrictions on mutual funds so that they could act more like hedge funds.

Barclays Global Investors is blazing the trail for the exchange-traded fund (ETF) business as federal regulators have lifted key investment restrictions on its iShares product.

Investors shut out of the record settlement between regulators and 10 Wall Street firms accused of gross misconduct during the fast and furious days of the bull run, can further pursue civil action against the firms, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Mutual funds are facing their greatest challenges in their existence. Can they remain the dominant investment of choice?

What better pairing than two individuals who like to stir things up? Outspoken industry pundit Roy Weitz, publisher of FundAlarm.com, recently weighed in on some of the pressures facing the mutual fund industry with Jack Bogle, founder and former chairman of Vanguard and a notoriously outspoken defender of the investor.

Baron Capital of New York, the broker/dealer affiliate of mutual fund asset management firm BAMCO and the distributor of shares of four Baron Funds, has been sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also, Ronald Baron, 59, BAMCO's highly visible founder, chairman and chief executive, and two of the firm's traders were punished for their ill deeds.

Mutual fund complexes are beginning to realize that implementing anti-money laundering programs requires more than just flag-waving. In fact, the rules are complicated, expensive and, because they are being set in stages, confusing.

Hedge funds are the latest investment vehicle to be put through the ringer as the Securities and Exchange Commission mulls more stringent regulation.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The mutual fund industry is entering a "new era of accountability" and should prepare to take a leadership role in restoring investor confidence.