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Who's got the lowest cost index funds? Get your index fund expense ratio scorecard ready.

Wearied in recent years by a bear market and the market-timing and late-trading scandal, Janus Capital is introducing two new funds that could finally signal a turnaround for the onetime fund giant and a departure from its reputation for aggressive growth.

Fidelity slid in net new inflows rankings for January, according to Financial Research Corporation. Boston-based Fidelity's net new client investment in its stock and bond mutual funds fell from fourth place to seventh place in January, or a 77% decline to $1.24 billion from the $5.3 billion it received in January 2004.

The Ontario Securities Commission announced late last week that Franklin-Templeton agreed to pay investors $49.1 million for allowing rapid in-and-out trading in some of its funds by three institutional investors from February 1999 to February 2003, according to The Toronto Star.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has sanctioned Ramy M. Shaalan, a former research analyst at Rydex Funds, with embezzled $96,000 through a scheme he concocted while at Rydex. Shaalan, who did not admit or deny wrongdoing, was banned from working in the securities industry.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William H. Donaldson took advantage of his time before an audience of leading legal minds to sharply criticize the role some lawyers have played in the ongoing mutual fund industry scandal.

Janus Capital cut a bulk of its Bay Isle Financial institutional money management team, including co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Bill Schaff, Money Management Executive has learned.

Executives at investments firms have a new set of priorities in 2005 compared to the ones they had at the end of 2003, according to recently released research by TowerGroup.

As the Securities and Exchange Commission considers the merits of instituting performance fees in the mutual fund industry, the agency needs to be careful not to scare away firms from using it, according to Morningstar.

Nuveen Investments Inc. said on Thursday that the company's Symphony Asset Management unit is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for overcharging performance fees to an unaffiliated family of mutual funds, Dow Jones reports.

Market timing in Putnam Investments mutual funds lowered long-term investors' returns by $48.5 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday. And market timing by Putnam employees depleted returns by an additional $4.4 million, including interest. As a result, the firm must now pay repay a total of $153.5 million to customers out of a total $193.5 million in fines and restitution.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday approved a new rule to combat market timing that would leave the decision to impose redemption fees on mutual funds up to the board of directors and allow funds to hold intermediaries more accountable for abusive trading.

A new study by kasina, a financial services consulting firm, outlines ways to increase enrollment and participation in defined contribution retirement plans.

President Bush wants to perform the largest overhaul on Social Security in the pension fund's 75-year history with his proposal for diverting a portion of a workers' wages to private accounts, but one outside entity that stands to profit from the idea is surprisingly mum.

American Funds, a unit of Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos., pulled in the most amount of money among mutual fund companies in January with net inflows of $8.4 billion, according to research released by Financial Research Corp. on Tuesday. It was followed by the Vanguard Group with $6.2 billion and exchange-traded fund manager Barclays Global Investors with $2.9 billion.

Securities regulators in Illinois are pressuring Bear Stearns to turn over documents that contain proof of market-timing improprieties, Dow Jones reports, citing unnamed sources.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. emphatically stressed Tuesday that it is not putting up Putnam Investments, the company's mutual fund unit, and Mercer Inc., its consulting unit, for sale. Marsh, which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $676 million, is cutting its quarterly dividend in half and slashing up to 2,500 jobs to pay for settlements over allegations that its insurance brokerage unit rigged bids.

A new study by Bain & Co. suggests that more and more affluent Baby Boomers, or those with an average income of $100,000 or more, are rolling over 401(k) money at retirement without the help of a financial adviser.

Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday it is making the fee reductions on five of its index funds to 10 basis points, introduced last August, permanent. The reduction was the most dramatic on the Spartan International Index Fund, which had cost 47 basis points. But even as Fidelity touted the fee reductions as "A Perfect 10!" in advertisements, they included fine print saying, "This arrangement may be discontinued at any time."

Bundling seems to be what 401(k) plan sponsors are ordering for the retirement plan market. Typically, sponsors use different providers to administer their 401(k) and defined benefit plans. But recent reports suggest that may soon change as sponsors look to cut costs and bundle up both plans together to offer a one-stop plan shop, now known as total retirement outsourcing, or TRO.