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Regulators continue to hammer away at Putnam Investments, this time over potential conflicts of interest arising from its multiple role as investment advisor, retirement plan servicer and employer, parent company Marsh & McLennan indicated in its 2004 annual financial report. Although it isn't clear how serious some of these legal issues are, MMC devoted 11 pages to discussing them.

The chief executive officers of 14 major pan-European asset and fund management companies have teamed up in a new forum to push their case for a single EU cross-border investment market.

Close on the heels of U.S. regulators' investigations of mutual fund trading abuses, the Ontario Securities Commission began probing the Canadian mutual fund industry in November 2003. But unlike the spate of scandals that surfaced in the U.S., only a handful of companies were found to have engaged in shady trading practices.

SEC Promotes Hawke as Philly Associate Director

Fallout from fund company mergers often means fund service providers will find themselves in one day and out the next, without them having caused a single service breach, tech snafu or operations meltdown.

Too few choices in employee 401(k) plans have many investors reaping inferior returns because they're not properly diversified, according to a recent academic study published by three New York finance professors.

Money Management Executive and Source Media are accepting nominations for the third annual Fund Operations Awards.

A number of insurance companies such as MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. are including more and more annuities products as offerings for 401(k) plans, according to Dow Jones.

The Federal Reserve Board has advised Citigroup not to do any big deals until its plan to bolster internal controls is properly executed.

On Wall Street, Eliot Spitzer needs no introduction. The New York Attorney General, who is visiting Ireland this weekend with his wife Silda and a group of New York lawyers and activists, tells the Irish Times what his rationale has been for being the Wall Street buster that he is.

American Funds seems to be on a fee-cutting spree. Capital Research & Management Co., which runs American Funds, has reduced the fees it charges investors for managing each of its stock and bond mutual funds, or advisory fees, by 10%.

The Money Management Institute, the national organization for the separately managed account industry, will host its Annual Meeting March 29 and 30th in Philadelphia. Titled: Opportunities & Obligations: Ensuring America's Retirement Security, the conference addresses the hot political, social and financial topic of how to deal with the pending retirement of Baby Boomers. The conference brings together sponsors, managers and technology providers to discuss the issues and solutions.

The mutual fund business is likely to undergo tremendous change in the years ahead, according to Don Putnam, co-founder of investment bank Putnam Lovell NBF Securities. In an interview with MarketWatch, Putnam said that in light of the changing regulatory environment and mounting conflict-of-interest concerns, the mutual fund industry is ripe for mergers and acquisitions.

Morningstar Inc. saw a per-share profit in 2004 for the first time in five years, according to updated initial public offering documents the investment research firm filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dow Jones reports.

The NASD has brought its first market-timing case involving variable universal life (VUL) policies. The organization has charged Jefferson Pilot Variable Corp. (JPVC) for "failing to have an adequate supervisory system in place to prevent market timing and excessive trading in the sub-accounts of its Ensemble series of VUL insurance policies."

At a press conference on Wednesday, President Bush acknowledged that his idea to privatize Social Security was a tough sell but added that there were other, related ideas out there that merited consideration.

Mutual funds and the rest of corporate America are suffering the repercussions from an overly zealous SEC, lobbyists charge. Although SEC Chairman William Donaldson has signaled that the SEC has no plans to let up in its lawsuits, the person at the center of the lobbyists' fury is chief enforcer Steven Cutler.

After being burned by the bear market and an ugly mutual fund scandal uncovered at some of its funds, Putnam Investments is trying to resurrect its damaged reputation.

The Money Management Institute, the national organization for the separately managed account industry, will host its Annual Meeting March 29 and 30th in Philadelphia. Titled: Opportunities & Obligations: Ensuring America's Retirement Security, the conference addresses the hot political, social and financial topic of how to deal with the pending retirement of Baby Boomers. The conference brings together sponsors, managers and technology providers to discuss the issues and solutions.

Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission conducts a federal investigation into conflicts of interest and rebating practices of 401(k) plan administrators nationwide, industry sources say that employers could help themselves by being more careful when setting up plans with administrators, according to the Spokane Journal of Business.