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BlackRock has reduced the fee on its iShares Comex Gold Trust exchange-traded fund by more than a third, to 25 basis points. The firm apparently is tossing its hat into the ETF fee wars started by Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard.

NYSE Euronext said it will create a “market segment” that lists and trades bonds based on debt from international microfinance institutions.

State Street Corp. has sued three of its former executives for creating a new rival in securities lending.

Prompted by a shift toward defined contribution plans and regulatory changes, European fund managers and their asset servicing providers will increase their spending on portfolio management and accounting systems to $787 million by 2012, from about $646 million in 2009, according to a report released by Aite Group.

Following the completion of an acquisition last week, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing announced Monday it has established a global financial institutions group to support clients and prospects in the banking, mutual fund and insurance sectors.

July 20 - The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. - 2010 Global Asset Management Report - 8:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. BCG's New York Office at 430 Park Avenue (between 55th and 56th). For more information, please contact David Fondiller at 212/446-3257 or fondiller.david@bcg.com

WASHINGTON — Investment advisors may face tough compliance issues in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's unanimous adoption last week of rules designed to prevent IAs from making political contributions to elected officials to obtain business from state and local pension funds, investment pools and college-savings accounts.

Under the theory that lucrative investment opportunities like alternative energy will be more likely to spring from overseas markets, Fidelity Investments is positioning its 20-year-old environmental energy mutual fund right at the crossroads of those two sectors.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Thursday took two steps to establish itself as the standards-bearer for collection and distribution of global counterparty data and over-the-counter derivatives data.

Who's in best position to achieve real-time surveillance of markets?

Academics and New York University's Stern School of Business and York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto have an upcoming article in the Journal of Financial Economics that looks at the lending practices of hedge funds to publicly traded corporations.

As the rich get richer across the globe, high-net-worth clients in North America have tightened their grip on their wallets, according to Merrill Lynch’s World Wealth Report.

Annuities sales through banks maintained their modest recovery pace in April after hitting record lows at the beginning of the year.

After launching an initiative to revamp its wealth management business in April, Hartford Financial Services Group said John C. Walters, current president of wealth management, will leave Hartford at the end of July to "pursue other opportunities."

Fitch Launches Website For All Things BAB

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Thursday took two steps to establish itself as the standards-bearer for collection and distribution of global counterparty data and over-the-counter derivatives data.

If the fund management industry thinks it's gotten away scot-free on the Dodd-Frank financial regulation reform bill-and several senior fund executives went on the record last week to say it has no impact-the industry's got another thing coming.

Knight Hires Morgan Team To Target Fund Advisors

Even though the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board technically lost a Supreme Court ruling Monday, the board is likely to emerge stronger now that the element of uncertainty has been removed.

Financial reform may drive demand for more technology on the desktop, as registered investment advisors and brokers attempt to live up to the fiduciary standard embodied in the nearly enacted Dodd-Frank bill.