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Credit Suisse Group announced it was acquiring a majority interest in Asset Management Finance Corp. of New York from National Bank Financial of Canada.

The European Commission’s legal certainty group (LGC) has issued a set of recommendations designed to help improve and harmonize post-trade securities processing across the European Union.

Baby Boomers and their financial advisers are going to increasingly look for one-stop-shop solutions that combine mutual funds, annuities and systematic or laddered drawn-down schedules, Investment News reports.

The unbridled growth of exchange-traded fund assets and products appears to have hit a speed bump, at least for now, The Wall Street Journal reports.

CLSA Capital Partners has created a new fund that invests in Asian water and waste management opportunities, Reuters reports.

Hedge funds may do a good job of shorting stocks and investing in futures, but when it comes to their own legacies, few have management succession plans or future growth strategies. This is according to a report from accounting and consulting firm Rothstein Kass, Reuters reports. In fact, 70% are ill prepared for the times ahead.

Investors increased their allocation to global emerging markets hedge funds by more than 60% from the first to the second quarter, according to new data. Hedge Fund Research Inc. said that investors allocated approximately $995 million to such alternative investment funds.

Symetra Financial has launched a new awareness campaign titled “Don’t Fear 65,” laying out a path for retirees to live a worry-free retirement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission suffered a setback last week in its efforts to prosecute individuals for insider trading after a judge dismissed the charges on a case from 2001.

Citigroup plans to revamp its capital markets business under its investment-banking arm.

A ruling last month by the Internal Revenue Service, limiting the ability of investors in funds of hedge funds to deduct management fees from their federal income taxes, could prompt some managers and their investors to either redo their tax forms or challenge the decision.

The chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission, Jun Kwang-woo, spoke out Monday about last week's reports that state-controlled Korea Development Bank was possibly interested in buying Lehman Brothers.

Catherine J. Weatherford has been named president and chief executive officer of NAVA, the Association for Insured Retirement Solutions, based in Reston, Va.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.That, essentially, is the message from Vanguard Chairman John Brennan to the Securities and Exchange Commission, in response to the SEC’s plan to change a rule governing money market funds - making Vanguard the first major mutual fund company to protest the proposed change.In response to the subprime crisis, and the apparent failure of ratings agencies to properly grade the securities, the SEC is proposing shifting the responsibility for assessing short-term debt from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, to squarely on the shoulders of asset management firms.That would be a mistake, Brennan argues, that could harm investors in the $3.5 trillion money market mutual fund industry.“It is our view that the proposed elimination of ratings would remove an important investor protection from Rule 2-a7, weaken investment standards and, potentially, pose a risk to the long history of stability of the $3.5 trillion money market fund industry,” Brennan wrote in a letter to the SEC.“Ratings, even if occasionally imperfect, protect investors by establishing a uniform, minimum credit quality for all money market funds. Removing that investor protection is akin to outlawing seat belts.”

To the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), there are plenty of modern-day Willie Suttons eager to go "where the money is."Today, the money is largely held by seniors. Hence, regulators say, seniors are the targets of unscrupulous salespeople armed not with pistols, but with professional designations that exaggerate their competence or their concern for seniors' well-being.Now some of these individuals are being sought out not by potential clients, but by federal regulators, including the SEC and FINRA. These regulators are making it clear that advisors who use the word "senior" or various synonyms to transact business unethically are squarely in their sights. These individuals are "among [regulators'] top targets," says Tracy DeWald, general counsel at Securities America, a broker-dealer based in Omaha, Neb. "People age 60 and over are the biggest source of regulatory complaints."According to NASAA, some product salespeople using "senior" designations typically invite senior citizens to seminars where a free lunch is served along with a presentation on investments. Either at the seminar or through follow-up contacts, some advisors ultimately sell unsuitable investments to some of the attendees.In April, NASAA introduced a model rule on the use of senior- specific certifications and professional designations. This rule, which prohibits the misleading use of designations that include words like "senior" and "retiree," has already been adopted by the state of Washington. At press time, New Hampshire was set to adopt the rule and other states are likely to follow suit. A report issued last year by NASAA, FINRA and the SEC lists the popular Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) designation among those it considers misleading or confusing.Some broker-dealers have effectively banned reps from publishing senior-related credentials. Genworth Financial, for example, prohibits its employees and agents from using the CSA designation (the most common senior designation) on their business cards or in their marketing materials."We have a similar policy," says DeWald of Securities America. "In fact, we have lists of which designations are acceptable in published materials and which aren't. None of the 'senior' or 'elder' designations are on the accepted list. Some of our reps have these designations, which they can mention to clients in conversation. They can't put the letters behind their names to promote themselves."The CSA designation is conferred by the Society of Certified Senior Advisors (SCSA), which bills itself as the world's largest membership organization for professionals seeking to improve their skills in working with seniors. More than 9,500 advisors now hold a CSA designation.SCSA executives are quick to defend their organization."We're aware of regulators' concerns that certain professional designations may be misperceived by the public," compliance specialist Bill Kaluza says. "That's why SCSA requires each CSA to provide a written disclaimer to clients and potential clients."Are the CSAs telling the disclaimer to potential customers?"To date, we've had very little indication that CSAs are not using the statement," Kaluza said.

Rather than acquire or invest only in companies seen as turnarounds, private equity firms are increasingly attracted to the strength and high-net-worth retail customer base of asset management firms, a category they traditionally have sidestepped, Dow Jones reports.As Miguel Sagarna, a partner in the private equity group at KPMG, put it, “It’s a very scalable business, and it is a good quality product, it can grow fast with good margins.”And with so many banks and asset management firms looking to raise capital by selectively selling off divisions, private equity firms are seeing this as a great opportunity to take advantage of good prices. Some are even planning to build broad financial services operations, said William Kirsch, chairman of the private equity group at Paul Hastings.Certainly, private equity firms are looking to diversify their holdings, Sagarna agreed.However, since most private equity firms closely guard their business, it is likely they will run any asset management firms they acquire alongside their business, experts said. That does not mean that they may not still share information and research, Kirsch said.Asset management firms might even help private equity shops develop new products, added Adam Schneider, a principal at Deloitte.

Mutual fund managers in China are waiting for the economic outlook to improve before they launch new funds, according to China Knowledge Press.Industry insiders say that as of Aug. 18, managers of 16 funds that have already received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, including nine stock funds and seven bond funds, are waiting to launch until the Chinese stock market and investor attitudes improve.According to official statistics, there were 88,000 new accounts for fund investment in July, down 19% from the prior month. There were 5 million new accounts added in August 2007.

Total assets in money market mutual funds fell by $1.45 billion to $3.573 trillion for the week ending Aug. 20, according to the Investment Company Institute. Assets of retail money market mutual funds fell by $1.35 billion to $1.239 trillion.Taxable money market fund assets in the retail category fell $2.85 billion to $931.24 billion, while tax-exempt fund assets rose $1.49 billion to $307.45 billion.Institutional money market fund assets fell $98 million to $2.334 trillion, while taxable money market fund assets rose $2.02 billion to $2.126 trillion and tax-exempt fund assets fell $2.12 billion to $208.12 billion.The seven-day average yield rose from 1.84% to 1.87% for the week ending Aug. 19, and the 30-day average yield rose from 1.85% to 1.86% during the same period, according to iMoneyNet Inc.'s Money Fund Report.The seven-day compounded yield increased from 1.86% to 1.89%, and the 30-day compounded yield rose from 1.87% to 1.88%. The average maturity of money fund portfolios was at 46 days, up from 45 days.

U.S. junk bond mutual funds saw $8.63 million in net outflows for the week ending Aug. 20, a steep drop from $53.47 million in inflows the previous week, according to AMG Data Services.The struggling economy and rising defaults have caused junk bonds to post a 2.73% loss year-to-date, the second-worst performance among fixed-income assets after asset-backed bonds, which are down 9.35% for the year.Junk bonds carry high yields to compensate for their risks and are rated below investment grade.

West Virginia and Nebraska offer the best 529 college savings plans, according to a ranking by SavingforCollege.com, a unit of Bankrate Inc., set to be released Friday.