Special Program Root Tag

Alex Widmer, CEO of Swiss bank Julius Baer, died unexpectedly Dec. 3 at the age of 52.

Investors continued to rush to the safety of cash this week, putting an additional $29.06 billion in money market mutual funds, for a total of $3.743 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Thrivent Financial is continuing its four-year-old partnership with Habitat for Humanity, pledging $24 million this year, which will help build 314 homes.

Seeing traffic on Yahoo’s finance website and Marketwatch.com burgeon, Fidelity Investments has decided to try its hand at financial news for itself, and is revamping its website as a result.

State Street Corp. is laying off 6% of its workforce, or 1,800 people, in the first quarter. Initially, the layoffs will cost the company as much as $350 million, or 51 cents to 55 cents a share, but that will then revert to $400 million in annual savings.

Contrary to widely held beliefs in the annuity and insurance industries that they are poised to cash in on the 78 million retiring Baby Boomers, a new report from Diversified Services Group finds that mutual funds are positioning themselves to do a better job of serving this market.

Neuberger Berman managers have bid for and won the right to buy the asset management business in a court-supervised sale, a source confirmed with Investment Dealers’ Digest.

Confidence among affluent and millionaire investors sunk further in November, according to Spectrem Group.The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index fell 15 points in November, to an all-time low of 39.

The outlook for exchange-traded products (both funds and notes) is strong, according to a new report from SEI called “Exchange-Traded Products: A Look Ahead.” Over the past 10 years, assets in such products have grown from $16 billion to $487 billion, for an annual compound growth rate of 41%.

For all of the reports on dismal negative 20% declines in hedge funds this year, PerTrac Financial Solutions found that if the net is cast wider, sound performers can, indeed, be found.

The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission reminded fund companies that with all of the staffing and operational cutbacks taking place, compliance is an area where shortcuts cannot be tolerated.

Now, more than ever, automation of back-office functions at mutual fund companies is critical, according to a new whitepaper from Confluence.

Fortress Investment Group became the latest hedge fund Wednesday to tell investors it will temporarily suspend redemptions. In its case, Fortress did not say when they would be honored.

Reserve Funds announced it is returning all of the assets of six of its funds, at a $1 NAV, including the key Primary II and U.S. Government II funds.

WASHINGTON — With no end in sight for the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve Board said Tuesday it will extend three of its liquidity programs through April 30.

Besides supporting four money market funds with exposure to structured investment vehicles with $420 million in capital of its own, Legg Mason has signed a one-year renewal with a bank to support $355 million in SIV securities. As of Nov. 30, the par value of SIV exposure in the funds was $2.8 billion, down from $10 billion as of Oct. 31, 2007.

The “perfect storm” of high volatility, withdrawals and liquidity problems that has hit hedge funds will soon subside, Man Group CEO Peter Clarke told the Hedge Fund World Zurich conference, Dow Jones reports. In fact, hedge funds could turn the corner as early as the second quarter of next year, Clarke said.

Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday it is reopening two of its largest funds, Contrafund and Low-Priced Stock Fund, to new investments, effective Dec. 16.

There was a time that the highflying world of hedge fund managers appeared to stratospherically surpass that of mutual fund managers. After all, some of the top hedge fund managers have averaged annual salaries of $250 million in recent years, with $1 billion paydays not uncommon for top stars.

With the markets siphoning value from mutual funds and investors running for cover to the tune of billions of dollars in redemptions a month, Fidelity Investments is trying to hold onto customers’ assets by promoting FDIC-insured certificates of deposit.