Special Program Root Tag

Weiss, Peck & Greer, a unit of Robeco Investment Management, said on Monday that its three-member mutual fund family has changed its name to the Robeco Investment Funds, effective April 29. Each individual fund will add Robeco to their moniker as well.

HSBC has replaced its HSBC Asset Management unit with HSBC Investments and HSBC Halbis Partners, effective May 3.

Fidelity Investments, without citing which large clients it has landed over the past year for its brand-new health savings account (HSA) benefits program, issued a report stressing the importance of making HSA enrollment an ongoing and personal experience.

Former head of Canary Capital Partners Edward Stern testified Friday in the criminal trial over the mutual fund trading of former Bank of America broker Theodore Sihpol The Wall Street Journal reports.

Fresh off a recent sweep exam, the Securities and Exchange Commission is warning pension consultants about potential conflicts of interest.

Pioneer Investment and Ibbotson Associates announced a joint launch of the Pioneer Ibbotson Conservative Allocation Fund. The new portfolio, aimed to provide long-term capital growth and current income for risk-averse investors, will be the fourth in the family of the Pioneer Ibbotson Asset Allocation Funds.

Fidelity Investments has dropped the management fee on its Freedom family of mutual funds, date-targeted retirement funds which allocate investments in other Fidelity funds. The firm has dropped the 0.08% charge on the 10 funds, MarketWatch reports.

Maintaining highline performance in its mutual funds is a key strategy for MFS Investment Management to regain its position in the marketplace, according to C. James Prieur, president and chief operating officer of MFS parent Sun Life Financial. Prieur made his remarks during a presentation for a recent UBS Global Financial Services Conference.

Along with a laundry list of fund companies that have come under fire from federal and state regulators, Janus Capital Management Group is again battling charges related to market-timing and after-hours trading. However, the fund company asserts that the suit, this time brought by State Attorney General Darrell McGraw in West Virginia , is precluded by settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other state regulators, the Associated Press reports.

Rydex Investments announced a launch of new mega-cap exchange traded fund that tracks the recently created Russell Top 50 Index. Rydex Russell Top 50 ETF (Ticker: XLG), now listed on the American Stock Exchange, is composed of America's biggest companies, representing around 40% of the U.S. total capitalization.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filled the post of director of the division of enforcement from within. Linda Chatman Thomsen, formerly deputy director of that division, takes the place of Stephen M. Cutler, who announced in April that he was leaving the SEC for the private sector.

An Oregon broker/dealer is battling the NASD over charges that it engaged in market-timing. Paulson Investment Co. has denied the charges and intends to "defend this matter vigorously," The Portland Business Journal reports.

WASHINGTON - Perhaps the mutual fund industry could borrow a page or two from the playbook of Gordon M. Bethune.

WASHINGTON-Electronic communication, the way of life and doing business that it has become, demands greater vigilance on the part of mutual fund IT and legal experts.

IXIS Asset Management Advisors has created a new division called Managed Portfolio Advisors. The new unit is designed to help financial institutions develop investment products, construct portfolios and provide overlay management.

David Winters has left Franklin Mutual Advisers to start his own firm, Wintergreen Advisers. Winters managed four funds, co-managed one fund and oversaw three other retail products for the firm, a part of Franklin Templeton Investments since 1996, MarketWatch reports.

Both conventional wisdom and earlier studies of mutual fund performance found that removing closed funds from performance databases raised the overall performance of the industry. However, a new study from Lipper demonstrates that this effect is much less profound than thought, and is primarily concentrated in certain investment styles, Reuters reports.

Latest testimony in Theodore Sihpol III's trial has revealed his motive for assisting in late trading: cold, hard cash. The former Bank of America broker received commissions for the trades well into the six-figures, Bloomberg reports.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. cleared over $1 quadrillion in assets for the first time in 2004, topping its 2003 volume of $923 trillion by 22%.

WASHINGTON--The ICI decided, at this year's annual convention, to "roll the videotape" and show the industry's leading executives just what their end investors have to say.