Special Program Root Tag

Heading into the final weeks of 2005, at least three investment managers have predicted either a full-blown bear stock market ahead or are pessimistic about the economic outlook going forward.

What is being described as an "administrative oversight" has tripped up the Lighthouse Capital Opportunity Fund and caused the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinize an October proxy that the fund filed and to retain its advisory fees.

Since the SEC voted to require many U.S. hedge fund managers to register as investment advisors, hedge fund managers have been looking to sort out what steps they need to take to adhere to the new regulation. To help them, Lipper of New York has just published "It's the Rule: The New SEC Advisor Regulation for Hedge Funds," a guide to what managers need to know in advance of the Feb. 1, 2006 deadline for registration.

The results of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu "2005 Global Offshoring Study" are in, and they indicate that many financial services companies are not committed enough to offshoring, and therefore do not receive the maximum return ratio that could have been gained from the operation.

CitiStreet Names Three Regional Sales Directors

By Steven Miyao Chief Executive Officer kasina

By Theodore E. Eichenlaub Partner Adviser Compliance Associates

JPMorgan Chase has launched a new mutual fund that its hedge fund manager, Highbridge Capital Management, will oversee, The New York Times reports.

Two large pension funds have put Fidelity Investments on watch for a total of $433 million, Financial News reports.

New Ontario Securities Commission Chairman W. David Wilson recently gave a speech in which he highlighted that the recent scandals involving hedge funds and said there is a need for more transparency, and by extension, more regulation, according to Hedge World News.

At the request of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, State Supreme Court Justice James Yates dropped charges against former Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce executive Paul Flynn on Monday.

Ernst & Young has awarded James E. Stowers, Jr. as the nation's top financial services entrepreneur, the Kansas City Star reports. Stowers is the founder of American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

As some investors turn to banks for better returns than on money market funds, some mutual fund companies are trying to outdo them with enhanced-cash money funds, The Wall Street Journal reports. These funds invest in longer-term, lower credit instruments, whereas traditional money market funds invest in short-term Treasuries and commercial paper.

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has filed yet another lawsuit against Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., charging the firm with disregarding repeated demands to produce documentation having to do with wrongdoings in the company's mutual fund and insurance divisions, the Boston Business Journal reports.

Proving that first-mover advantage and a memorable ticker symbol are key when it comes to launching a mutual fund, State Street Global Advisors' streetTracks Gold (GLD) Shares exchange-traded fund has attracted almost 17 times the amount of assets than Barclays Global Advisors' iShares Comex Gold (IAU), TheStreet.com reports.

With its two major stock indexes, the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Index down 9.7% and 12% respectively so far this year, the two worst-performing indexes in Asia, China is looking to overseas fund managers in an attempt to boost its markets, Bloomberg reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission testified last week before the Senate Banking Committee that it approves legislation that would ban the sale of mutual funds aimed at military personnel, the Associated Press reports.

A California appeals court upheld an earlier Superior Court ruling in favor of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer against Edward Jones for not disclosing sales deals with a number of mutual fund companies. The court rejected Edward Jones' lawsuit that federal law preempted Lockyer's case against it.

Fidelity Investments has been busy hiring employees in the United States and abroad this year, expanding its head count by 3,500, the Boston Herald reports. The total number of people working for Fidelity stood at 36,000 at the end of October, way above its 2000 peak of 33,186 employees. In 2002, when it cut 1,700 jobs, Fidelity had a total of 29,142 employees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued the "SEC 2005 Performance and Accountability Report," which is a synopsis of the SEC's major accomplishments of this year and the challenges it faces in the future.