Special Program Root Tag

Investors have pulled nearly $80 billion this year out of mutual funds that invest in U.S. stocks.

UBS AG has accepted the resignations of global equities co-heads Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara and named Mike Stewart as the sole global head of equities following an unauthorized trading scandal that came to light last month.

ING’s U.S. retirement division has launched iEnroll, mobile enrollment for 401(k) plans whereby participants can instantly enroll in their workplace retirement plan. iEnroll is available on mobile devices as well as through tablets that on-site ING enrollment specialists will have on hand.

ProShares has launched the first ETFs in the United States to provide magnified or inverse exposure to VIX futures.

WASHINGTON -- A top official with the Labor Department defended the controversial plan to expand the definition of "fiduciary" to cover people providing advice to retirement plans on a commission-based model, a proposal strongly opposed by industry groups representing independent broker-dealers and advisers.

Litman Gregory Fund Advisors has launched the Litman Gregory Masters Alternative Strategies Fund, a multi-manager, multi-strategy fund that offers investors diversified exposure to absolute return-oriented strategies.

BNY Mellon Shareholder Services has launched Mobile Proxy Voting, enabling client companies to extend electronic proxy voting to smartphones, tablets and other web-connected mobile devices.

Russell Investments has launched four additional investment discipline exchange-traded funds, the new offerings focused on small-cap indexes. Russell’s investment discipline indexes take indexing to the next level by aiming to mirror the way equity managers invest.

Brown Advisory has launched the Brown Advisory Tactical Bond Fund, a fund focused on total return that, using a quantitative modeling process to track macro movements in bond sectors, will invest in fixed income—including tax-exempt municipal bonds, corporate bonds, U.S. Treasury bonds, Treasury inflation protected securities and cash equivalents.

On the heels of the success of its Keeley Small Cap Dividend Value Fund, Keeley Asset Management has launched the Keeley Mid Cap Dividend Fund.

The John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index, based on a survey of 1,005 investors by Matthew Greenwald & Associates, fell to 10 in the third quarter, down from 18 in the second quarter. When John Hancock launched the index in the first quarter of this year, the reading was 22. To participate in the survey, respondents needed household income of at least $75,000 and assets of $100,000.

The state and city of New York has sued BNY Mellon for using "fraudulent rates" in collecting $2 billion of fees from public and private pension funds in foreign currency transactions.

Touchstone Investments and Old Mutual Asset Management have entered into an agreement whereby Touchstone will acquire the $2 billion U.S. mutual fund business of Old Mutual, bringing Touchstone’s assets to nearly $10 billion. The deal will also add several new sub-advisors to Touchstone’s roster of fund managers.

Investors appear to have switched gears from focusing on replenishing their balances from 2008’s market downturn to taking all of the responsible steps to prepare for retirement.

The TCW Group has launched the MetWest Unconstrained Bond Fund, a mutual fund with the flexibility to invest across a wide array of global fixed income sectors.

Eaton Vance International (Ireland) Funds has selected Citi to provide global custody and trustee services for its Dublin-registered funds, expanding Citi’s existing relationship with Eaton Vance International, for which Citi provides fund administration, accounting and transfer agency services.

BOSTON -- Top economists who spoke here at the Insured Retirement Institute annual conference told attendees to brace for fundamental paradigm shifts as they wait for global and domestic economies to stabilize.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. has been fined $1 million for supervisory failures that allowed a Texas broker to run a Ponzi scheme.

Putnam Investments has launched the Putnam Dynamic Risk Allocation Fund, a ’40 Act mutual fund that uses the “risk parity” approach of its successful Putnam Total Return portfolio for institutional investors, which has delivered average annual returns of 9% since inception five years ago.

State Street has acquired Complementa Investment-Controlling AG, a Swiss supplier of investment performance measurement and analytics services.