Special Program Root Tag

Now that brokerage firms have had a full year to comply with new supervisory control regulations from the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, they can reflect on lessons learned and how, going forward, their chief executive officers can do a better job of setting, testing and supervising compliance controls. This is according to a Deloitte & Touche webcast last week: "Supervisory Control Regulations for Broker/Dealers: Compliance in the Second Year and Beyond."

T. Rowe Price reported earnings of $128 million, or 46 cents a share, in the third quarter, up 10% from $116 million, or 43 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2005. Although the earnings fell three cents short of analysts’ expectations, assets under management reached $308 billion to set a record.

Janus Capital announced Thursday that its third-quarter earnings fell to 7% to $29.5 million from $31.7 million in the third quarter of 2005. Revenue, however, increased 4.8% to $229 million from $218.4 million, primarily on the strength of its Intech unit, which had net inflows of $1.7 billion. Excluding those inflows to Intech, investors pulled $1.8 billion from long-term funds at the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether 27 mutual fund companies accepted millions of dollars worth of kickbacks from fund administrators looking to secure their business, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A federal judge has decided to allow a class-action suit against Wells Fargo, its subsidiary H.D. Vest and a number of other mutual fund companies to proceed, but has dismissed some of the allegations and is requiring that additional investors join the lawsuits by Nov. 17.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined Stephen Treadway, former chairman of the equity mutual funds at PIMCO, $572,000 for allowing improper trading of mutual funds, Dow Jones reports. Treadway has also been banned from serving as an officer or a director of a mutual fund company for one year.

Affiliated Managers Group reported third-quarter earnings of $33.1 million, or 87 cents a share, Wednesday, up 16% from $28.5 million, or 67 cents a share in the third quarter of 2005. Revenue was up 20% to $280.4 million, from $234.1 million.

Amvescap, parent company of mutual fund companies Invesco and AIM Investments, reported third-quarter profits of $102 million, or 13 cents a share, Wednesday. While that was a 36% increase from $74.9 million, or 9 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2005, it fell short of analysts’ estimates of $113 million.

Power Financial, a Canadian insurance company, is interested in possibly acquiring Putnam Investments as a way of gaining an entrée to the U.S. mutual fund industry, the Globe and Mail reports, citing investment banking sources familiar with the matter.

Bending into shareholder pressures, large institutional investors, including mutual and pension funds, are beginning to show more of an interest in their proxy voting records, the Associated Press reports.

The NASD has fined Paul Saunders, chairman and CEO of hedge fund James River Capital, $2.25 million for market timing mutual funds through annuities.

While many fund managers are celebrating the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping the 12,000 mark, David Tice, manager of the $682 million Prudent Bear Fund is sounding alarms, Forbes.com reports.

While automatically enrolling workers in a 401(k) plan typically results in 90% participation, up from 68%, workers tend to keep contribution rates at the default level—and as a result will be ill-prepared for retirement. This is according to an analysis of 2.6 million 401(k) participants by Hewitt Associates.

Nearly eight out of 10 Latinos have less than $5,000 saved for retirement and 60% work at companies that do not offer 401(k)s, a poll released by the Americans for Secure Retirement and the Latino Coalition shows.Sixty-four percent polled said they are not confident that Social Security and pensions will provide adequate coverage for their retirement.

Waddell & Reed Financial’s third quarter net income remained virtually flat, rising only $100,000, or 0.2%, to $24.6 million from $24.5 million a year earlier.

DST Systems announced its third-quarter profits fell to $54.7 million from $154.3 million in the third quarter of 2005.

Legg Mason Tuesday announced its earnings during the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 19% to $143.7 million from $121 million during the same period a year earlier. This earned shareholders $1 per share, versus 99 cents per share from a year ago, slightly below analysts’ average estimates of $1.02 a share.

A number of investment managers have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer exchange-traded funds based on enhanced indexes to beat these benchmarks, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mutual fund assets surpassed the $10 trillion mark for the first time, reaching $10.32 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing data from Bobroff Consulting and Lipper.

Columbia Management, the investment management arm of Bank of America, named the co-president of Robeco Investment Management its head of distribution.