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The combined assets of U.S. exchange-traded funds rose 64% from the same time last year, posting an increase of more than $300 billion to reach $830.86 billion for the month ending in April, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Financing a college education is a major concern for most high school seniors as they prepare for graduation, according to a study by Fidelity Investments titled "College Bound and Cost Conscious: A Survey of High School Seniors."

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Walt Disney Co. employee and her boyfriend with insider trading for plotting to sell confidential information about the company’s quarterly earnings to hedge funds.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management hopes to increase sales this year by pitching its custody services to registered investment advisers.

Financial advisors have lost their springtime swagger.

With the SEC money market fund rules taking effect this Friday and the Libor up sharply, fund managers are reportedly beginning to see lending to European banks as too much of a risk. The bigger worry is this pullback has the potential to lead to another credit crunch like the one that nearly crippled the capital markets in 2008.

Kenneth A. Johnson, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new chief financial officer as of last Friday, takes over the agency’s financial operations just as the regulator prepares to amass a bigger operating budget and beef up examinations of mutual fund complexes and hedge funds to get ahead of systemic risk and ponzi schemes of the Madoff magnitude.

High-net-worth individuals in developed markets are far more downbeat about global economic prospects than those in emerging markets, according to Barclays Wealth Insights Volume 11: The Changing Wealth of Nations.

If the recession has any pluses at all, it’s that people now seem to be more mindful of how uncertain the market—and their future—really is.

BOSTON -- The National Investment Company Service Association (NICSA) has elected Michael J. Woodall, managing director of Putnam Investments' Mutual Fund Shareholder Services, as its new chairman.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined Piper Jaffray & Co. $700,000 for failing to retain about 4.3 million e-mails over a six-year period and for not alerting FINRA that it was having problems with its e-mail retention and retrieval.

Janus Capital Group CEO Richard M. Weil is planning to reshape his company from its domestic stock focus into a global, multi-asset management powerhouse.

Vanguard founder John Bogle says the mutual fund industry should care more about its shareholders, focus more on long-term investing and create better corporate governance standards.

According to a survey conducted in the first quarter by the Insured Retirement Institute released Monday the overall outlook for the annuity industry is positive. While some challenges remain, respondents indicated the growth industry’s opportunities are strong, with growth for variable annuities ranking 4.1 on a five-point scale, and fixed ranking 3.2 on the same scale.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has increased the number of securities in its coverage of corporate actions announced through its Global Corporate Action Validation Service (GCA VS).

After the so-called flash crash on May 6, and leading up to the $1 trillion debt bailout extended to Greece, the pros at Moss Adams knew how to react. They largely did nothing. There was no dumping of equities across the board. They did not pull up stakes and hunker down in cash positions.

Ninety percent of retail investors foresee market volatility remaining at or above its current level over the next three months, according to a survey by optionsXpress, an options and futures trading technology platform.

The financial regulatory reform bill recently approved by the Senate could be improved to address several key issues that could negatively impact mutual funds, said Paul Schott Stevens, president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute.

WASHINGTON — The recovery zone bond program would double in size to $50 billion and Build America Bonds could be used to do current refundings of existing BABs under a new tax and jobs bill released late Thursday evening by leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees.

U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, an affiliate of the Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM) unit of Bank of America [BAC], announced that Grant Boyd had been named market executive in Greater Atlanta. Boyd previously worked at The Private Bank of Wells Fargo, where he was a senior vice president and private banking manager for the Southeast region. In his new role he will oversee the direction and growth of U.S. Trust’s relationships with high- and ultra-high-net worth individuals and families.