Special Program Root Tag

Charles Schwab is making its Schwab and Laudus MarketMasters funds available to third parties through four clearinghouses and brokers outside of the company. The dealers who are currently licensed to sell its funds include: Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments, T.D. Waterhouse and Union Bank of California. Pershing and Fiserv Trust are soon to be added to the list.

Through the first nine months of this year, Standard & Poor's has found that 55.8% of actively managed large-cap funds have outperformed the S&P 500. But mid- and small-cap funds have not fared so well, with only 27.9% of mid-cap funds besting the S&P MidCap 400 index and 27.7% of small-cap funds trouncing the S&P SmallCap 600.

Starr Joins Amvescap as Chief Financial Officer

In order to be a successful financial adviser, it is imperative to provide high-level service to clients and be knowledgeable about products, the markets and the investment management industry. But even the most adept advisers need help, via adviser education platforms, and, surprisingly, that's an area where mutual fund companies often fall short, according to a new report from Corporate Insight, a financial services market research and consulting firm based in New York.

NEW YORK - As the demand for unified managed accounts continues to grow at a brisk pace, the money management industry has an opportunity to improve the nation's savings rate, which is slower today than at any point in its history and threatens the future financial health of millions of Americans.

Compass Bancshares knew it had to dump its proprietary fund family if it wanted to make any impact as a wealth manager, and it, like many smaller banks, believes it has found an impact product in separately managed accounts.

Here we are, one full year after the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a new compliance program through Rule 38a-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, requiring fund boards to adopt written compliance policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations of the federal securities laws by fund complexes, including compliance oversight of certain service providers.

BlackRock Inc. and Nuveen Investments have both reported an impressive third quarter in earnings, thus, illustrating the ability of management firms to bring in new money, says The Wall Street Journal.

Exchange-traded sector funds give investors the opportunity to instantly increase or decrease their exposure to different sectors of a benchmark through a one-step equity trade and offer diversification, low expense ratios, high tax efficiency, and at the same time allow investors the flexibility of the full range of stock order types throughout the day, Lipper reports. In addition, certain sector ETFs even have the added benefit of highly liquid options trading.

Investors and debt strategists predict that developing nations' bonds will bounce back and surpass U.S. Treasuries in the next few months, Bloomberg reports.

Evergreen Investments is facing consequences for the inappropriate rewards the firm gave to financial advisers who sold Evergreen products, Boston Herald reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed guidance on soft-dollar practices, where money managers pay above-average commissions to brokers, who in return provide goods and services helpful to money managers' investment clients.

ICON Advisers has expanded its internal sales desk staff from eight to 12 in anticipation of expanding its external sales force in early 2006, the company announced Wednesday. The additional internal wholesalers come from TIAA/CREF, PIMCO, Wells Fargo and SunAmerica.

Janus Capital Group is working on unveiling three new funds-of-funds designed to offer investors ready-made diversification, Rocky Mountain News reports, citing a Janus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's new Smart Portfolios will invest broadly across Janus stock, bond and money-market portfolios, with the growth portfolio investing between 75% to 85% in equities, the moderate portfolio investing between 55% to 65% in equities and the conservative portfolio investment between 35% and 45% in stocks.

Adequate savings, not being overly conservative and effective diversification are three of the recommendations AllianceBernstein makes in its new report, "Target-Date Retirement Funds: A Blueprint for Effective Portfolio Construction."

Pioneer Investment Management will offer the Roth feature in its owner-only Uni-K 401(k) plan, to be called the Pioneer Uni-K Plan with Roth and debut Jan. 1, 2006, which is the date that 401(k) Roth contributions come into effect nationwide.

The Ontario Securities Commission is going after commission fees Portus Alternative Asset Management Inc. paid approximately 1,000 financial advisers for referrals from 26,000 investors, The Globe and Mail reports.

AmSouth reported third-quarter net earnings Tuesday of $180.3 million, up 51% from $119.6 million in the third quarter of 2004. Per diluted share, earnings were 51 cents, up from 33 cents in the period a year ago.

Although Legg Mason and Citigroup had originally set Nov. 1 as the date for swapping their respective brokerage and mutual fund businesses, a deal worth a total of $3.7 billion, in light of some resistance from mutual fund shareholders and management complications, the companies now do not anticipate completing it until December, Knight Ridder reports.

After the hit of Hurricane Katrina, undoubtedly the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, many investors began wondering what to do about their investments. Many investment advisers are telling their clients to stay put, Contra Costa Times reports.