Special Program Root Tag

In an effort to get a pulse on China’s private wealth market, U.S.-based Goldman Sachs is sending employees to the country, news organization XFN-Asia reports.

Putnam Investments announced Thursday it has hired Deidre Phillips as vice president and director of government relations.

In a recent survey by Solcorp, Whitehill Technologies, and DSPA Software, 77% of life and annuity insurers rated growing market share and reducing costs as high priorities. Full results will be available through a Webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 27.

Brokerage firm A.G. Edwards indicated in an SEC filing this week that it expects its revenue to decline as a result of the ban on directed brokerage by mutual fund companies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The firm did not disclose, however, how much of a decline it expects, although it did say that in combination with other regulations, the changes could have "significant and adverse" effects.

Charles Schwab & Co. has joined the index mutual funds price war by temporarily slashing fees on a popular investment that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

An investigation into incorrect data posted on Morningstar's main Web site has spread to at least two other Internet-based financial news providers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last week subpoenaed mutual fund firm Gabelli Asset Management for possible improper trading, the company announced.

Variable annuities are "insurance-based products that have no reason to live," Scott Burns recently wrote in a syndicated column. Burns is the Dallas Morning News columnist who notoriously dislikes variable annuities.

T. Rowe Price Vice Chairman James S. Riepe has been named chairman of the Investment Company Institute, succeeding Paul G. Haaga, Jr., executive vice president of Capital Research and Management Co.

Brokerage firm A.G. Edwards announced this week that the Justice Department is looking into possible improper trades at the company, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

Despite recent events that may have eased some doubts, the public as a whole still has a great deal of mistrust in Wall Street, according to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Despite efforts by shareholder advocacy groups to tamp down on mutual fund board members’ salaries, compensation packages of trustees at the 50 largest fund companies in the first two quarters increased by 8%, The Wall Street Journal reports.

After seven consecutive months of aggressive investing, millionaires took a slightly more cautious approach last month, according to a recent report.

Bear Stearns is investigating whether top executives in its private-client brokerage unit approved improper mutual fund trades, Bloomberg News reports.

Janus Capital is off the schneid.

Brokerage powerhouses are increasingly promoting new approaches for investors to access low-cost exchange-traded funds as an alternative to ordinary mutual funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Because of the added costs that would be tacked onto mutual funds, a rule mandating independent board chairmen is a bad idea, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Even at a time where the mutual fund industry is trying to shake itself from the scandal, companies are still finding it hard to vote against excessive pay packages for executives.

Finally, Invesco and sister company AIM Advisors have settled their market-timing charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Invesco UK, the London-based subsidiary of Amvescap, said Friday that CEO Robert Hain has left the company.