Special Program Root Tag

Mario Gabello built his empire in 1976, when he was only 34-years-old, on a $50,000 check. He went to Branford, Conn to meet with Frederick J. Mancheski, then chairman and CEO of Echlin, Inc. and Mancheski became his first backer, The New York Times reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will host its first national CCO Outreach Seminar on Nov. 8 at the Commission's headquarters. With space available for only 500, the SEC is accepting registrations at http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/ccoutreach.htm and giving priority to chief compliance officers. The SEC will also webcast the all-day meeting at its home page.

Socially responsible investing has been a hot trend in the past few years, but has cooled down lately. However, fund managers need not worry because there are many opportunities in the international sector, MarketWatch.com reports.

Although Skandia's board of directors has advised the insurer's shareholders to reject Old Mutual's $6.02 billion takeover bid, the South African insurer plans to go ahead with the purchase and complete it by mid January.

Nearly 10 months since President Bush first revealed his desire to include private accounts in Social Security reform - an effort that included a three-month, nationwide barnstorming campaign to drum up support - the administration is no closer to getting a proposal heard by Congress.

In the mutual fund industry these days, sometimes it pays to be a little more like David and lot less like Goliath.

Private equity firms and distressed debt investors are opposites, and these days opposites attract, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal. Private equity firms have begun launching hedge funds, including those specializing in distressed debt, while hedge funds are getting involved in private equity deals.

Investigators sent a second notice to Fidelity Investments last Thursday informing them of their ongoing investigation into traders at fund giant accepting improper compensation in the form of gifts and sumptuous entertainment.

If the mutual fund industry and the regulators who oversee it thought that the mutual fund trading scandal is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence they will eventually be able to put behind them, the Government Accountability Office believes otherwise.

Setting redemption fees in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission's new Rule 22c-2 is going to cost the mutual fund industry $617.5 million over the next three years, a new report from TowerGroup shows.

Hedge fund assets will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2005 and 2008, resulting in overall growth of 75% in that time, according to TowerGroup.

Ibbotson Boosts Five to VP

Money matters, but not as much as quality of life and the opportunity to make a difference. This is the surprising consensus of securities industry professionals responding to the 2005 compensation survey by Diversified Management Resources of Boston and the National Investment Company Service Association, of Wellesley Hills, Mass.

The universe of open-end funds that employ strategies typical of hedge funds grew by two last week.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Linuxor Asset Management and Abbas Shah, the firm's principal, defrauded hedge fund participants in the Linuxor Global Macro Fund. Shah both managed the fund and was its trading adviser.

Wealthy investors who can afford to invest in hedge funds, private equity and venture capital have turned to mutual funds instead. According to a recent Spectrem Group study, in the last two years investors worth more that $5 million have doubled their mutual fund exposure by increasing these holdings to 12% of their investable assets.

Large-cap and mid-cap value strategies were the top performers among separately managed accounts during the first quarter of 2005, according to newly released data from the Money Management Institute, Financial Research Corp. and Dover Financial Research.

CHICAGO - Despite the wave of technological advancements and outsourcing expertise in recent years, fair value pricing remains a tough nut to crack, according to mutual fund industry leaders attending the annual Investment Company Institute Tax & Accounting Conference held here last week.

CHICAGO - By all estimations, the GROWTH Act is gaining momentum among lawmakers in Washington, but at least one high-ranking official said its proponents must answer some serious questions before it gets a shot at becoming a law in the months ahead.

The 830,000 individual and institutional shareholders who lost money when WorldCom fell apart three years ago, were handed a small triumph this week when U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ordered investment banks, auditing firms and the firm's former directors to return $6.1 billion.