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Fund managers constantly grapple with ways to speed up their ordering process, to keep up with high-frequency traders who work in fractions of seconds across multiple pools of liquidity. They also grapple with ever-increasing recordkeeping and compliance requirements.

Putnam Investments has promoted Robert E. Alan to head of North American consultant relations and Keith E. Thomas to head of international consultant relations. The two will work with the consultants who advise institutional investors on investment strategy and the selection of managers.

The Insured Retirement Industry has hired Lisa Plotnick as director of research, a new position IRI has created to establish itself as a research leader.

Morningstar announced Monday that its chief operating officer, Tao Huang is leaving the company at the end of the month.

InvestorForce and eVestment Alliance, providers of performance data for institutional investors and consultants, have expanded the data partnership they formed in early 2010.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Friday said it closed its aquisition of Matrix Financial Solutions, a purchase estimated at $201 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of SJK Investment Management in Greensboro, N.C.

Morgan Stanley has shifted the roles of several top executives as the firm sets out to strengthen its international presence, according to a company memo from Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman obtained by On Wall Street.In the memo, Gorman announces that Colm Kelleher, co-president of institutional securities, will relocate to London and assume new responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and non-Japan Asia. The heads of those regions will report to Kelleher, who will also have responsibility for the firm’s global sales and trading business.

There are two proposed pieces of legislation sitting in Congress that would seem to be no-brainers for helping people save for retirement and helping advisors help their clients.

Managing risk with be the trend in the investment management business in 2011, said Ed Keon, managing director and portfolio manager for Prudential Financial's Quantitative Management Associates, at Prudential’s 2011 Global Economic and Retirement Outlook briefing in New York on Tuesday.

A case brought by Oppenheimer & Co. failed to prove allegations that Citigroup Global Markets Inc. unlawfully raided its firm of nine high producing brokers, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel has ruled.

Renewed growth in the asset management business combined with new regulations will give a boost to the fund administration business in 2011, Confluence predicts.

In an SEC filing, Grail Advisors, a provider of actively managed exchange-traded funds launched in January 2009, indicates it may be in the process of being acquired. Should that fail, it may liquidate its actively managed ETFs.

The RBC Consumer Outlook Index dipped to 44.9 in, slightly down from the post-recession high of 45.2 that it reached in December. The index is based on a survey of 1,007 adults conducted by Ipsos.

As the market becomes more volatile and liquidity difficult at times, SEI has enhanced its middle-office services by enhancing its pricing and valuation capabilities.

Janus on Thursday announced the launch of the Janus Global Bond Fund and the Janus Emerging Markets Fund. They are the firm’s first standalone strategies in the global credit and emerging market equity categories.

The Investment Company Institute reported back-to-back weeks of net inflows to mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. stocks, a rarity since the May 6 Flash Crash.

Assets held in exchange-traded funds reached $994.5 billion by the end of 2010, according to data compiled by the National Stock Exchange. That is up 27.1%, compared to a year earlier.

Morningstar announced its 2010 Fund Managers of the Year Wednesday. The awards are based not just on performance in 2010 by over the long term, as well as on fiduciary responsibility for investors’ capital.

The price war among the largest exchange-traded fund companies is expected to heat up and even impact fixed income and emerging markets ETFs.