Special Program Root Tag

Highbridge Capital Management may soon have a new majority owner, Reuters reports, and that owner could be JP Morgan Fleming.

Morningstar is taking steps to refine procedures used to collect fund data on the heels of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation to determine whether the company should face charges for failing to correct false information regarding a mutual fund on its Web site.

Perritt Capital Management, a Chicago-based boutique fund shop, announced Monday the launch of its second mutual fund, the Perritt Emerging Opportunities Fund.

JP Morgan Fleming, mutual fund subsidiary of the financial services giant JP Morgan, has been named the sub-advisor to the First American International Fund, the companies announced. The move is subject to shareholder approval, with the tentative vote date set as Dec. 7, 2004.

Canadian regulators announced potential enforcement proceedings against four of the largest Canadian mutual fund companies last week, as the fund industry market-timing scandal expanded north of the border.

Daniel Calugar strikes again. If there is one name you don't want in your client book of business, aside from Eddie Stern, it is Calugar's. For the second time this summer, Franklin Resources has paid for its dealing with the mysterious Las Vegas investor.

DALLAS -- Separately managed accounts, now with a combined $529 billion in assets under management, appear headed for a more stringent regulatory landscape. While the tax-efficient investment vehicles geared toward the high net worth have enjoyed tremendous growth in the last five years with little agitation from regulators, the industry sees rougher terrain ahead.

NEW YORK -- Elizabeth Krentzman, general counsel of the Investment Company Institute, called on the fund industry to cultivate a better relationship with the brokerage community to tackle the many issues facing the interrelated businesses. She made the remarks at the ICI's Equity Markets conference here last Thursday.

In the months before the 2004 presidential election, investors are opting for safety over risk. Equity fund inflows were an estimated $11.5 billion in August, according to Lipper, as value funds once again beat growth funds and mixed equity continued to attract most of investors' money.

Kelmoore Hires Devine, Shaw, Wooledge as Execs

DALLAS -- Bank executives and a handful of third-party service providers convened here last week to attend a separately managed account conference focused on how banks can penetrate a space heavily dominated by the major wirehouses.

Pioneer Investments of Boston is tiptoeing into the separately managed account business through a brand-new phase of its year-old existing partnership with growth manager Oak Ridge Investments of Chicago.

Bank of America will shift 10 of its top executives to Boston as part of a consolidation of its wealth and investment management divisions into that city.

Morningstar revealed Friday that it has received a Wells Notice from the SEC for posting inflated performance figures for a mutual fund for a period of nine business days in March. Although the SEC does not have oversight over financial data publishers, it is considering bringing a civil suit for what it believes was reckless handling of data, Morningstar Chairman Joseph Mansueto told The Wall Street Journal.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons issued 17 proposed regulations to strengthen Canada’s mutual fund industry, The Globe and Mail reports. CARP wants Canada to create yet another, independent federal agency to oversee various regulatory bodies, new whistleblower legislation and, in light of the Ontario Securities Commission’s investigation, the creation of an investor protection fund.

Putnam Investments on Thursday made a "groundbreaking commitment" to provide retail investors much of the same information institutional clients often demand, according to an announcement by the firm, the California State Treasurer, and pension groups CalPERS and CalSTRS.

The Bank of New York said on Thursday it has developed new a software platform designed to vastly improve the company’s compliance program to meet the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new compliance rule.

Schwab Institutional, the subsidiary of Charles Schwab Corp., has tapped one of its own, Fred Petrino, to serve as a business development officer.

NEW YORK – Elizabeth Krentzman, general counsel of the Investment Company Institute, called on the fund Thursday to cultivate a better relationship with the brokerage community to tackle the many issues facing the interrelated businesses. She made the remarks at the ICI’s Equity Markets conference here.

Putnam Investments on Thursday made a "groundbreaking commitment" to provide retail investors much of the same information institutional clients often demand and receive from investment managers, according to an announcement made by the firm, the California State Treasurer, and pension groups CalPERS and CalSTRS.