Special Program Root Tag

U.S. proxy advisory firms are now caught in the middle of a heated debate over how-and even whether-they should be regulated.

Little known to even practitioners in the industry-such as mutual fund managers-is that mutual fund companies and exchange-traded fund issuers actually have to pay taxes in each state where they have investors.

Asset managers are very optimistic about revenue and asset growth in 2011, but increasing use of alternative securities and regulatory demands will strain their back office operations, SimCorp found in a recent survey of 49 executives.

Broadridge Financial Solutions has promoted Susan Certoma from chief operating officer to president of its brokerage processing services (BPS).

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has launched a new automated, global over-the-counter equity derivatives cash flow matching and netting service, with all 14 of the major dealers l(G14) live on the platform.

Dow Jones has partnered with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to launch the Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index to help the Global Fund’s cause, with a portion of the revenues generated from licensing the index going to the fund.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday filed a six-count indictment against three former UBS bankers — Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz and Michael Welty — for participating in fraud schemes and conspiracies in connection with the bidding on contracts for municipal bonds from 2001 until 2006.

For younger employees the possibility of an enjoyable retirement is dwindling.

The Investment Company Institute and the Independent Directors Council have filed a friends-of-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed to vacate the new SEC proxy access rules as they apply to registered investment companies.

To avoid a repeat of 2008 when food and energy prices in Europe reached record highs, the European Commission is considering regulating the commodities markets.

Mutual funds, hedge funds and pension funds are reportedly holding an all-time record level of commodities of every kind. Contracts have risen 12% this year and are 17% higher than the previous record set in June 2008, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Citi Fund Services Ohio plans to add 300 positions to its Columbus, Ohio, operations over the next three years, partially funded with the aid of state tax credits. The center currently employs 715 people.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said that the creation of a system for capturing all stock market data in close to real time is likely half as much as the $4 billion originally estimated.

A majority of advisers are optimistic about capital market conditions over the next three years, but only 7% of those advisers believe their clients are optimistic, according to a quarterly survey from Russell Investments.

Retirement benefits, specifically defined benefit programs, are critical when it comes to attracting and retaining employees.

Long-term mutual fund inflows for the week ended Dec. 1 totaled $1.04 billion, the Investment Company Institute said. This reverses outflows in the previous two weeks.

The Investment Company Institute announced Thursday that it has hired two executives on its government affairs team and promoted another person in the group.

ProShares’ new ProShares RAFI Long/Short exchange-traded fund began trading on NYSE Arca Thursday.

Contributions to 401(k)s increased in the last year, Principal Financial found in a survey of 1,159 employees and 529 retirees in October.

The Great Recession ended in June 2009, but average charitable giving from wealthy households still took a significant tumble after that, according to the 2010 Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.