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Bank One Corp. is looking for closure on charges filed by securities regulators that it facilitated improper mutual fund trades for a number of hedge funds by paying a $90 million settlement.

Janus Capital Group has signed a deal to sell the private client asset management unit of its Bay Isle Financial subsidiary to First Republic Bank.

Equity mutual funds that pay dividends are making a comeback among investors who were burned by technology companies and other types of fast-growing stocks that focused mainly on generating profits, the Associated Press reports.

Regulators from the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission are arming pension plan providers with tips for spotting illegal mutual fund trading activities within their plans, Defined Contribution News reports.

Fidelity Investments has taken the plunge of offering a new advisor share class of the Fidelity Ultra-Short Bond Fund. Ultra-short bond funds are seen as a low-risk alternative to fledgling money market mutual funds with less volatility than intermediate-term fixed-income instruments. The sustained climate of low interest rates has taken the wind out of money market funds' sails and increased the popularity of ultra-short funds. .

Capital Research and Management, manager of the American Funds, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible conflicts of interest in its directed brokerage arrangements, The New York Times reports.

A disturbing trend of withering pension packages and employee benefits may force American employees t0 spend more years in the workforce to meet their retirement goals, according to the findings of a new study released by Hewitt Associates.

Morningstar is reversing its message of warning investors to stay away from Janus funds and instead is suggesting that investors approach the beleaguered mutual fund company with "caution," St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

SEC Insight, an independent research firm that analyzes correspondence between the Commission staff and public companies, endorsed plans by the SEC to post comment letters on its Web site.

Fund industry veteran and philanthropist Charles "Ted" Bauer, co-founder and retired chairman of AIM Management Group, passed away Monday following a sustained illness. He was 85.

CHICAGO – If the scandal engulfing the fund industry wasn’t depressing enough, mutual fund managers at the Morningstar Investment Conference were less than optimistic about the outlook for stocks and bonds in the upcoming year.

Fidelity Investments will cease paying brokerage trading costs inclusive of soft-dollar arrangements beginning July 1, The Wall Street Journal reports. Fidelity said it paid $815 million in trading commissions last year, of which $160 million, or roughly 19%, went for soft dollar research or market data.

The chairman and CEO of Empire Financial Holding has resigned amid a continuing SEC probe into mutual fund trading practices at the brokerage firm, Reuters reports. Kevin Gagne, the executive, had been on unpaid leave of absence since the probe began late last month. Other executives who had been involved in trading mutual fund shares for institutional clients have either resigned or been fired, the firm said.

Investors, mystified about current events and the seesaw stock markets of the past few months, invested less money in equity funds in May than in any month since April 2003, research firm Lipper reported last week.

There was no place of refuge for tainted mutual fund shop Pilgrim Baxter & Associates, as the company last Monday agreed to a $100 million settlement with regulators for engaging in abusive trading practices.

Some states are unfairly discriminating against investors choosing to invest in 529 college savings plans outside of the state in which they reside, creating mounting problems for the industry, according to a recent white paper by the College Savings Foundation (CSF).

For mutual funds, it was the shot heard round the world.

Rep. Paul Gillmore (R-Ohio) has introduced a companion bill in the House to the Mutual Fund Reform Act sponsored by Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) in the Senate. A companion bill is similar or identical to another piece of legislation introduced in the opposite house of Congress. Fitzgerald's bill aims to ban 12b-1 fees and improve disclosure on mutual fund fees so that consumers can more easily compare what they pay for competing funds.

The Internal Revenue Service is expected to issue guidance on how to bring 403(b) plan regulation in line with the 2001 tax law changes. Sources say this will be the first time that the IRS has made sweeping comprehensive changes to these plan rules since 1964.

Mallozzi Joins Prudential As Senior Vice President