Special Program Root Tag

On the heels of Bill Gross’ latest active exchange-traded fund, BlackRock has thrown its hat into the active ETF space with a proposed offering of its own.

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services has hired Stephanie Miller as Global Head of the Alternative Investment Services business.

PIMCO’s All Asset All Authority institutional fund received a Gold rating this week from Morningstar Analyst Ratings—the only fund to do so this week.

Exchange-traded fund sponsor WisdomTree has launched a corporate bond ETF covering emerging market issuers across Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Market volatility severely curtailed revenue growth among asset managers in 2011, while independent managers continued to outperform management subsidiaries, according to a study released by consulting firm Casey, Quirk & Associates LLC.

A senior Prudential executive is calling upon the government to promote the development of multiple employer plans, which allows many small employer to pool their resources together under a single defined contribution plan.

imensional Fund Advisors has appointed Steve Clark, formerly head of portfolio management, as head of the North American Institutional group. He replaces Dave Schneider, who is retiring.

It's official: BlackRock, Inc. today says it has completed its acquisition of the Toronto-based Claymore Investments, Inc.

Santa Fe, NM-based Thornburg Funds has promoted Rob McInerney, formerly a regional consultant, to the role of national sales manager, effective March 1. He will also assume the role of president of Thornburg Securities Corp., succeeding Jack Gardner in both positions.

San Francisco, Calif,-based Callan Associates, an investment consultant, has hired Benjamin Taylor as vice president, responsible for investment structure reviews, fee analyses and record keeping searches.

361 Capital, a provider of alternative investment mutual funds, separate accounts, and limited partnerships to institutions, financial intermediaries, and high-net-worth investors, has entered into a strategic partnership with Lighthouse Partners, a fund-of-hedge-funds and managed account investment adviser.

The Investment Company Institute has promoted Kathleen Joaquin to the position of Chief Industry Operations Officer, replacing 25-year veteran Donald Boteler, who retired earlier in the month.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary L. Schapiro told a financial services subcommittee of the House of Representatives that the federal regulator intends to spend $100 million of its $1.6 billion requested budget for fiscal 2013 on information systems and another $50 million on modernizing the EDGAR stock information database and www.sec.gov, its public web site.

Huntington Asset Services, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, has appointed Joseph Rezabek as president of the company. Rezabek hails from Citi Fund Services, where he was managing director and head of North American Fund Services.

Symetra Investment Services, Inc., the broker-dealer registered investment advisor arm of Symetra Financial Corporation, has hired John Forrest to serve as director of business development, responsible for managing relationships, development advisors and managing sales.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has hired Richard Gray as managing director and institutional client advisor, based in New York and focused primarily on corporate defined benefit plans and public fund retirement plan clients. This is a new position reporting to Andrea Lisher, East Team Lead for Institutional Advisory Sales at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Morningstar, Inc. has launched a new alternative investments center as part of several enhancements to MorningstarAdvisor.com, a free website that provides advisors with practice management information, investment trends, and industry insights.

Matrix Financial Solutions has expanded the functionality of TrueOpen, its core mutual fund trading platform, to address growing demands from retirement plan providers and advisors.

Seoul, Korea-based Mirae Asset Global Investments today unveiled its Global Dynamic Bond Fund, which will bet on sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate bonds from issuers in both emerging and developed markets, for U.S. investors.

AXA Equitable has hired Amy Radin to the new position of senior executive vice president and chief marketing officer.