Special Program Root Tag

The NASD lists its total number of registered representatives as approximately 660,000. The annual turnover rate of representatives in the securities industry, according to the Securities Industry Association, is about 19%.

For BNY Jaywalk, a subsidiary of the Bank of New York, the recent move from its midtown Manhattan location to the bank's storied offices at One Wall Street was more than a validation of the division's enhanced importance at the bank. Jaywalk's newfound prestige speaks to the growing importance of an entire industry.

The so-called mass affluent hold an enormous share of U.S. investing wealth, at last count some $6 trillion in assets. As the Baby Boomers age, the mass-affluent population and its wealth are growing. American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA) has always catered to this big group, defined as those with between $100,000 and $1 million to invest. But as the competition for this market intensifies, AEFA is making a bigger push to retain existing mass-affluent clients - and to attract new ones.

Spiraling health-care costs are a fact of life for many American businesses and workers. Premiums for employer-sponsored health plans have risen 10% or more annually over the last several years. Faced with an aging workforce, a sluggish economic recovery and pressure on profits, many employers wonder whether they can continue to provide health coverage and still remain competitive in their industries.

No one yet knows exactly how Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 38a-1 affecting mutual fund compliance will be enforced in years to come. The SEC is bound to offer clarification and guidance as time goes on, but funds must take steps now to meet requirements and make compliance a pervasive aspect of their management and board culture.

A.G. Edwards' tussle with regulators is getting more intense. According to a letter submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Douglas Kelly, A.G. Edwards' director of law and compliance, and released by William Galvin, Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth, illegal mutual fund trading activities were not confined to the company's Boston branch but were rampant.

Lifetime annuitization has gotten another boost, this time as bipartisan members of both the Senate and House have reintroduced the Retirement Security for Life Act. The bill, originally proposed last year, originally called for making $20,000 of annual annuity payments tax-free.

In its 10th anniversary, Brinker Capital is also able to celebrate huge sales growth for 2004. Last year, the company's mutual fund assets in its Destinations adviser-sold fund family more than trebled from $247 million at the end of 2003 to $764 million at the end of 2004.

In a speech to the Mutual Fund Directors Forum, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson unraveled a broad set of measures that the federal agency plans to undertake to regulate the mutual fund industry more closely.

The Vanguard Group announced that a lawsuit alleging that several mutual fund companies failed to collect or claim settlement money on behalf of investors has been dismissed, according to Reuters.

Amid a federal investigation into gift-giving, Fidelity Investments announced a new team of managers this week to help run its stock trading desk, the Boston Globe reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday said it has censured and fined brokerage Brean Murray for allegedly engaging in late trading of mutual fund shares, Reuters reports.

Leading value fund manager John Schneider has launched a new money management firm, JS Asset Management, based in West Conshohocken, Penn.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered an optimistic outlook on the economy Wednesday, saying that it "seems to have entered 2005 expanding at a reasonably good pace, with inflation and inflation expectations well anchored." He said there was a sense of confidence among investors as shown by a number of financial indicators.

Regulators have charged American Funds Distributors, distributor of the American Funds, with violating securities rules by directing $100 million in commissions, over a three-year period, to roughly 50 brokerage firms that were top sellers of American Funds.

Common Cause, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, is urging Fortune 500 companies to voluntarily disclose their political contributions. Teaming up with the Center for Political Accountability, Common Cause will ask corporate giants such as General Electric to make public their political contributions and to provide a reason for those contributions, according to a press statement.

A.G. Edwards' tussle with regulators is getting more intense. According to a letter submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Douglas Kelly, A.G. Edwards' director of law and compliance, and released by William Galvin, Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth, illegal mutual fund trading activities were not confined to the company's Boston branch but were rampant.

The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an emergency court order Wednesday to freeze the assets of NorthShore Asset Management, a Chicago-based investment advisor that invests in hedge funds, accusing the firm and three of its officers of misappropriating $37 million. Named in the complaint were NorthShore executives Kevin Kelley, Robert Wildeman and Glenn Sherman.

This month, Morningstar released its review of 529 plans. Since all states offer the college funding plans, parents should look at their own state plans first to take advantage of the tax breaks for residents, said Kerry O'Boyle, fund analyst and author of the study.

Even as the Bush Administration has stayed out of the Kyoto Protocol about to take effect, under which nations have agreed to cut emissions of "greenhouse gases" generated by industry and vehicles, a leading U.S. pension fund and socially responsible mutual fund are complying with the treaty.