Special Program Root Tag

Morgan Stanley has distributed $50 million in fund restitutions to investors who bought funds between Jan. 1 2000 and Nov. 17, 2003 and were not told about incentives brokers received for selling certain funds or the higher fees they earned through B shares, Compliance Reporter reports.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a legal brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Monday against the Securities and Exchange Commission's 2004 rule requiring independent chairman, Dow Jones reports. The Chamber says the SEC failed to adequately consider the costs and alternatives and did not follow federal procedures in adopting the rule.

State Street Corp., Boston Financial Data Services and DST Systems have published a guide for mutual fund directors on new regulation best practices. Called "Building Investor Confidence" and available to existing clients, it includes releases and speeches from the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as industry articles.

U.S. Rep. Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the House Financial Services and the man who helped shape the new mutual fund regulations in the wake of scandal, will leave quite a legacy, friends and colleagues say.

Although Peter A. Langerman is not on the board of Pennsylvania based Sovereign Bancorp, he is making his outrage at chairman Jay S. Sidhu known to its voting members.

Morningstar Senior Analyst Russel Kinnel has released his top five mutual funds for 2005.

Ken Gregory, president of Litman/Gregory Asset Management LLC, has a sharp eye for finding great portfolio managers.

Mutual funds that strive for absolute returns in all kinds of markets rather than beating a particular benchmark are gaining in popularity, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Mercer Bullard, president and founder of Fund Democracy Inc., is urging states not to get into Section 529 education savings plans. In a recent paper in the University of Cincinnati Law Review, Bullard claims that having states participate in the 529 business gives them too much influence in an industry that should be controlled by the private sector, a monopoly, and shields them from regulations guiding the mutual fund industry.

Hedge funds that focus on short selling have had varied results in the past few years. However, as stock prices have fallen in recent weeks, short-sellers have been the best-performing hedge fund managers this year, The New York Times reports.

Regulatory concerns may force the sale of Refco's brokerage unit to take place as a shift in customer accounts rather than an out-and-out sale, Reuters reports. An acquisition handled this way would leave the company open to regulatory action and penalties, a source familiar with the sale told The Wall Street Journal.

The Vanguard Group announced that Paul D. Kaplan, portfolio manager of Vanguard GNMA Fund and co-manager of Vanguard Wellington(TM) Fund, will retire on June 30, 2006.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's probe into Wachovia Corp. has broadened, as inquiries into mutual fund sales practices now include its asset management unit, Evergreen Investment Services, Reuters reports.

NEW YORK - New regulations may serve to harm investors by flooding them with information, Charles E. Haldeman, CEO of Putnam Investments, said here at the annual meeting of the National Association for Variable Annuities.

Janus reported net income for the third quarter of 2005 of $31.7 million, a 33% decrease from net income of $47.3 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. However, Janus has its first quarter of net inflows, $1.7 billion, since the second quarter of 2003. "This was our best quarter of flows in five years," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Scheid.

AUSTIN, Texas - As the industry continues to embrace outsourcing as a means to cut costs, the models for doing so have evolved to the point where, quite frankly, no single, prevailing model any longer exists.

With a full 12 months of new compliance experience under their belts, fund industry executives and chief compliance officers of small or niche fund groups have had some time to reflect on their experiences and added workload.

Fred Alger Management of New York has launched a print advertising campaign in business and investment publications that touts the performance of three of its flagship growth funds. The ads, slated to run through the end of the year, attribute the funds' stellar performance to the firm's 40-year-old foolproof investment philosophy of using a bottom-up approach to identify the fastest-growing companies in their respective sectors. Alger has $9 billion in assets under management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering requiring fewer hedge funds to register, the Financial Times reports. The current rule, which is to go into effect in February, will require hedge fund managers with more than $25 million in assets to register with the SEC. Lori Richards, the SEC director of compliance inspections and examinations, said the SEC has been discussing the possibility of raising the minimum to reduce its oversight responsibilities.

As Baby Boomers retire, a wave of lawsuits could be brought against their employers for their handling of 401(k) funds, Lawyers Weekly USA reports.