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While retirement is still the No. 1 goal of a majority of investors, its importance has fallen slightly since 2003, while other financial concerns have risen in importance. This is according to a survey released by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

Mutual fund companies have developed robust online transaction capabilities, according to a report from Corporate Insight. Of the 18 surveyed, only one firm offered no transaction capabilities, while a second didn't allow investors to sell shares online. The remaining 16 companies allow investors to buy, sell and exchange shares online.

Hedge fund and money managers, always looking to boost returns, are focusing on sophisticated investing products and strategies and more are beginning to outsource some complex support tasks. Reaping the benefits of this are globally equipped custody banks, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Morningstar announced that its third-quarter profits jumped 80% to $13.5 million, or 29 cents a share, from $7.5 million, or 17 cents a share, from the year-ago period, Bloomberg reports.

Huntington Bancshares announced Thursday it has reached an agreement to acquire Unified Fund Services, which provides transfer agent, fund accounting, distribution and administration services to mutual fund companies, for cash by the end of next year.“This acquisition creates a complete one-stop-shop for mutual fund servicing and strategically fits with our custody and other asset servicing businesses,” said Huntington Senior Executive Vice President Daniel B. Benhase, who noted that the biggest growing area in fund administration is small- and mid-size back office operations.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance and its Nationwide Financial Services subsidiary are considering selling another subsidiary, Gartmore Global Investments, which has $25 billion under management, as well as its institutional asset management businesses.

Larry Lasser, ousted as the chairman of Putnam Investments at the outset of the mutual fund timing scandal, has laid low these past three years. But recently, after speaking at Olin College in Massachusetts, the much-maligned executive granted an interview to the Boston Globe in which he expressed some regret for the Putnam’s state today—with a caveat.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is calling on companies to stop paying the legal fees of their executives facing criminal charges, law.com reports.

Third time’s the charm as Morgan Stanley announced its third hedge fund deal this week. The Wall Street behemoth pinched a minority stake in London-based hedge fund Lansdowne Partners as the firm moves to rebuild its investment management business, the New York Post reports.

Principal Financial Group said its third-quarter earnings rose 19.5% from a year earlier, to $251 million. Earnings per share were 92 cents a share, nine cents below the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson First Call. Assets under management rose 14%, to $215 billion. Principal, which announced its results late Monday, said sales of retirement products such as 401(k)s rose 20%, to $5.4 billion, in the nine months that ended Sept. 30. Mutual fund sales rose 16% and individual annuity sales 24% in the nine months.

Bank of America Wednesday announced it is offering a unified managed account.

Investment management firms are increasingly allowing their managers to run both hedge and mutual funds, and with the fees so more lucrative for hedge funds, regulators and lawmakers worry that investors in mutual funds will get the short end of the stick, The Wall Street Journal reports.

RiskMetrics Group has formed an agreement to acquire Institutional Shareholder Services, the two companies announced Wednesday. Both are looking to expand beyond proxy voting, corporate governance and risk management solutions to offer data, analytics and investor advice. ISS, which had been up for sale since the summer, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the acquiring firm, with CEO John M. Connolly continuing in his role at ISS.

In the first eight months of the year, Fidelity experienced $3.3 billion in net flows to its long-term funds, while American Funds reaped $46 billion and Vanguard $23 billion, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, citing Financial Research Corp. data.

Shortly after Harry Lange took the reins of Fidelity Magellan a year ago, he was being hailed for strong performance, Fortune reports.

Assets of the member firms of Old Mutual Asset Management reached $237.3 billion by the end of the third quarter, up $6.5 billion, or 2.8% from the second quarter.

The Bank of New York’s Pershing unit has added First American Funds to FundVest, its no-transaction-fee mutual fund platform.

Wells Fargo Funds Management has launched the Wells Fargo Advantage Strategic Small Cap Value Fund, a multi-manager fund that will be run by three teams of small-cap value managers.

While retirement is still the No. 1 goal of a majority of investors, its importance has fallen slightly since 2003, and other financial concerns have risen in importance. This is according to a survey released by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

With all of the hullabaloo over exchange-traded funds and all of the major indexes taken as ETF benchmarks, more and more of these funds are creating custom indexes or tracking little-known indexes, The Wall Street Journal reports.