Special Program Root Tag

While large custody and clearing banks have traditionally focused on mutual funds and pension plans, they are beginning to eye the higher-margin prime brokerage business of hedge funds, Bloomberg reports.

ProFunds has filed registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer three new leveraged exchange-traded funds, the first ETFs to apply this strategy, MarketWatch reports.

After having overextended its services at the end of the bull market to cater to affluent investors--and then laying off thousands of employees, struggling to find a more viable business model and seeing 900,000 accounts walk out the door, today, a streamlined Charles Schwab is showing impressive signs of strength, Los Angeles Times reports.

As Fidelity Investments turns 60 this month, the fund giant again has cause for celebration. Recent efforts to overhaul its fund management--with new portfolio managers, more lenient investment mandates and a smattering of new funds--have paid off, with performance of many of its funds returning to strong levels, The Boston Globe reports.

Mutual fund took in net flows of $116.46 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 75% from the $66.5 billion they netted in the same period last year, data from the Investment Company Institute shows.

Citing the constraints of indexing, the Domini Social Equity Fund is looking to become actively managed.

Investor expenses have dropped for a second straight year, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Emerging markets are known to be highly volatile. Nonetheless, many international or global funds are too highly concentrated in emerging markets, a fact that came to light in the past week when markets in Brazil, Russia and India tumbled--and many international funds fell right along with them, The Wall Street Journal reports.

For all its claims to have some of the sharpest portfolio managers and analysts in the mutual fund industry--people who research companies inside and out--Janus was fooled by Enron's accounting scheme of hiding billions of dollars in debt and inflated profits, just like everyone else, the Denver Post reports.

No-load funds are not hard to find, yet investors continue to pay up-front broker commissions to brokers and financial advisers for advice, but Jim Peterson, head of mutual fund research for Charles Schwab, argues that front-loaded funds are just a way for interested parties to make a buck.

WASHINGTON - The money management industry is wrestling with a titanic disclosure dilemma.

WASHINGTON - John Casey, a 39-year veteran of the investment management business, has some frank advice for asset managers struggling to get on the platforms of major broker/dealers.

WASHINGTON - The NASD has set out its agenda and outlined a smattering of projects, including a number related to mutual funds, that are currently in the works. The pronouncement came from Robert Glauber, chairman and chief executive officer of the NASD, speaking at the Investment Company Institute's General Membership Meeting here earlier this month.

Fidelity Investments last week corrected omissions of holdings in first-quarter filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by filing amended 13F forms. The company had omitted nearly 500 stocks out of its total holdings of just over 3,000 securities, or 16% of its holdings, a Fidelity spokesman indicated.

The two biggest issues that the financial services industry will face in the next few years are the cost, burden and risk associated with regulatory compliance as well as increasing competition among firms, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 350 CFOs and other finance and compliance leaders.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer recently met for the first time face-to-face to discuss a wide range of cases, including mutual fund investigations-and vowed to work more cooperatively, according to numerous reports.

Scanlon Becomes Head of Fund Marketing at Gabelli

WASHINGTON - The days of defined benefits may be ending, but their tactics live on in an increasing number of defined contribution plans, from enrolling employees automatically, to picking their portfolios and even investing in annuities.

WASHINGTON - When James Zweig bought his first stock back in the late 1970s, the 16-year old waited each day for the paper to arrive so he could gauge his investment's performance.

Kansas has decided to give its residents tax breaks for investing in 529 college savings plans of their choice anywhere in the nation, not just Kansas. Beginning in 2007, individuals will be able to deduct up to $3,000 of personal income invested in a 529 plan, while married couples will be able to deduct $6,000.