Special Program Root Tag

Launching the latest salvo in a price war between the top independent custodians, Schwab Advisor Services announced fee waivers and price cuts for functions that help advisers seeking to sell their businesses and maximize client referrals.

The pace of hedge fund liquidations is sharply dropping, with only 3%, or 292 funds, shutting its doors in the second quarter, according to Hedge Fund Research. By comparison, 22%, or 376 funds, liquidated in the first quarter. Throughout 2008, 1,471 funds, or 19% of the hedge fund universe, shut down.

Fewer parents are optimistic they will be able to afford their children’s college education, with only 12% saying they are “very confident” they will reach their savings goals, down from 20% last year, according to the College Savings Foundation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has formed a new unit, the Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation, with University of Texas School of Law Professor Henry T.C. Hu in charge as director.

Invesco’s PowerShares subsidiary has filed to offer an exchange-traded fund that will primarily invest in the Build America Bonds being issued as part of the stimulus plan.

Long-term equity and bond funds took in $7.25 billion in the week ended Sept. 9, marking the 26th straight week of inflows, now totaling $266 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

Institutional investors remain optimistic about the global economic outlook, but they don’t expect growth to match historical averages, Merrill Lynch found in a survey of 423 fund managers overseeing a total of more than $1 trillion in assets.

Investors pulled $2.1 billion out of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, the second month they have redeemed money from the controversial funds.

A groom who works in the financial services industry has launched a wedding registry website, weddingfutures.com, where couples can sign up to receive gifts of mutual funds and stocks through their bank or brokerage firm. The website charges 5% for every purchase.

Putnam Investments has launched a suite of nine international sector funds that will invest in stocks in the MSCI World Index. The nine funds are: the Putnam Global Consumer Fund, Putnam Global Natural Resources Fund, Putnam Global Energy Fund, Putnam Global Technology Fund, Putnam Global Financials Fund, Putnam Global Utilities Fund, Putnam Global Health Care Fund, Putnam Global Telecommunications Fund and Putnam Global Industrials Fund.

Open-end mutual funds have pulled in more than $226 billion through August, bringing them close to making up for ground lost in the second half of 2008, Morningstar said in a report.

The Department of Labor is dropping a rule proposed during the final days of the Bush administration that would have allowed 401(k) providers to offer advice to investors even if it involved a plan in which its own funds were sold.

Fifty-one percent of younger adults are thinking more seriously about retirement planning after watching the recession’s impact on their parents, Country Financial found in a survey. Evidently, these investors believe it is critical to stay on top of their finances and retirement savings, since 71% said they expect to experience a second similar recession by the time they reach their parents’ age, and 60% believe their financial situation will be the same or worse in retirement as their parents.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services has formed a distribution partnership with Edward Jones that makes Hancock’s 401(k) platform, complete with the Guaranteed Income For Life feature, available to the brokerage’s 12,000 financial advisers.

More than 100 investors with money trapped in the Reserve Yield Plus Fund have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to reserve the permission it gave to Reserve Funds to delay redemption requests in order to liquidate holdings in an orderly market, The Wall Street Journal reports. The investors have been waiting for their remaining $175 million for the past year. The fund once held $1.2 billion.

Technology exchange-traded funds were some of the biggest sellers during the dot-com mania of 10 years ago, even as they loaded up on Internet companies without profits.

Exchange-traded funds continued to take in money in August, but inflows slowed to $5.5 billion, down from $13.5 billion the month before.

Forward Management has launched the Forward Tactical Growth Fund, a mutual fund that will try to take advantage of market inefficiencies all the while minimizing downside volatility, by taking long, short of neutral market positions on individual securities, sectors or entire markets. Broadmark Asset Management is sub-advisor to the fund, which is a 40 Act version of a similar separately managed account the two firms already offer.

Wirehouses are projected to lose $188 billion in client assets this year due to adviser migration, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. And those losses are expected to continue over the longer term as well.

With the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year in the past and the economy on the road to recovery, many participants in the financial services industry are questioning whether the industry still needs to undergo substantial regulatory change, and what changes, if any, could be beneficial at this point.