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In a move industry insiders say indicates that consolidation of the money market fund industry is a sure bet, Federated Investors of Pittsburgh last week announced it was buying $29 billion in money market funds sponsored by Alliance Capital Management of New York. As of Sept. 30, Alliance had $487 billion in assets, while Federated had $178 billion.

The troubles that have shaken the mutual fund industry since 2003 have left many scrambling to understand and address a host of proposed changes. Although the regulatory environment has changed significantly, the fact is that the role of transfer agents has changed less than some might think. True, there are many more regulations to work with, since a dozen new proposals have been put forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the past 14 months.

In most circles, the name Domini is synonymous with socially responsible investing. But for many broker/dealers, the Domini name represents a laudable, but not personally profitable, investment philosophy.

From Sarbanes-Oxley reforms to anti-money laundering rules to the USA PATRIOT Act, the rate of regulatory change within the investment management industry has dramatically increased over the last several years. Mutual fund managers now find themselves dividing their time between meeting the requirements of new laws and maintaining their primary focus of managing and growing assets.

Much as we'd like to move along to something else, we're forced by current events to end the year with yet another discussion of compliance jobs. One year ago, we had Eliot Spitzer to thank for moving the noble profession of compliance professional out of the wings and directly onto center stage. Here we go again.

Fidelity Investments is seen as the top prospective buyer of Bank of America’s tower on 100 Federal St. in Boston, the Boston Herald reports.

America's millionaires showed renewed confidence in the economy last month, according to an index released Wednesday by Spectrem Group, a Chicago consulting firm that specializes in the affluent and retirement markets.

While investors have improved their confidence in the securities industry since last year, they still have not completely embraced the idea that everything is back to normal, an annual Securities Industry Association survey found.

In an effort to cater to investors’ exact targeted time of retirement, Putnam Investments said Friday that it was rolling out nine new lifecycle retirement portfolios, Reuters reports.

An overhaul of the nation’s Social Security plan, one of the big-ticket items of newly reelected President Bush’s second-term agenda, could create a windfall for mutual fund firms specializing in index funds, CBS MarketWatch reports.

Market-timing and late-trading abuses are rare in the European fund industry, according to a recently published report from a group of regulators in Europe.

Fremont Investment Advisors has settled charges of market timing and late trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced in separate statements Thursday.

A state known for dry but hot weather will soon be equipped with a new branch office from the country’s hottest mutual fund firm, Knight Ridder reports.

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. acknowledged receiving subpoenas from securities regulators investigating allegations of improper mutual fund trading patterns, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Shares of publicly traded financial services providers rallied yesterday after President Bush sealed his second electoral victory and raised hopes for favorable changes in taxes to remain in place and, potentially, the privatization of Social Security, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A European Union directive aimed at eliminating gender discrimination in determining insurance rates is likely to apply in the United Kingdom, although British officials had stated that the country was not bound by the impending rule, according to a report in ifaonline.co.uk. The directive comes into effect in December, and would require that all financial products, including insurance, be priced equally for men and women.

Bank platform reps need proper training in order to earn a client’s trust as an adviser, according to a study conducted by Kenneth Kehrer for Allstate’s financial institutions division.

American Funds was No. 1 in sales among U.S. mutual funds for September, research from the firm Financial Research Corp. shows. For the industry overall, investors dumped more money into funds than they did in August.

For the second straight month, Canadian mutual funds trudged through a month of outflows, an industry report shows.

Zacks Investment Research and AdvisoryWorld have teamed up to create a managed account solution for 401(k) plan sponsors and their employees that offers both professional investment management through Zacks and guidelines to help employees invest as much as needed to retire comfortably.