Special Program Root Tag

A group of independent directors has formed the Independent Directors Council to provide education and create a forum to discuss policy issues. The council, an offshoot of the Directors' Committee of the Investment Company Institute, will be housed in the ICI but has its own staff.

Being a value-oriented investment management shop based in Denver, a city well-known for growth managers including Janus Capital, Invesco and Founders Capital, it can sometimes feel like you are a fish swimming against the tide.

Amex Promotes Moen To Vice President, National Sales Manager

BOSTON -- Outsourcing has been on the minds of chief investment officers as current market and regulatory challenges have pushed the practice to the forefront of the business world's focus, according to participants in a CIO roundtable discussion here at the National Investment Company Service Association's Technology Forum 2004.

Fulfillment is a key, but often underestimated, aspect of an effective marketing communications effort. The appropriate collateral fulfillment program for your company should greatly assist your business goals, ensuring a quick and measurable return on investment (ROI) for your marketing materials, increasing your sales and containing your costs. While this function can be handled internally, outsourcing fulfillment can often give companies a greater return on their investment.

When searching for opportunities to reap big returns amid a market slump, it pays to think small.

Rydex Investments has added 10 variable trust funds for insurance company variable products. Six are standard S&P/Barra style box funds, two are inverse style box funds, and one leveraged and one inverse Dow 30 fund.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has fined three securities firms and one broker $503,000 for inadequate variable annuity sales procedures and marketing materials, as well as faulty VA recordkeeping systems.

In a letter to SEC Chairman William Donaldson, Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) reiterated his call for independent chairman of the boards at fund companies by noting that 85% of the chairman at companies embroiled in the scandal worked at the investment advisory firm. Of the 19 companies implicated in the scandal so far, 16 had such chairmen at the time the trading abuses occurred, proving, Oxley said, they are not able to serve in a disinterested way. Oxley characterized these findings as "startling."

WASHINGTON – The Investment Company Institute and its membership are at a crossroads, said Paul Roye, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s director of the division of investment management before the ICI General Membership Meeting here Thursday.

WASHINGTON -- The Investment Company Institute and its membership are at a crossroads, said Paul Roye, the Securities and Exchange Commission's director of the division of investment management before the ICI General Membership Meeting here Thursday.

BOSTON -- Despite the rampant increase in "e-crimes" and high-tech scams, cyber experts here said that firms need not build the Fortress of Solitude to protect their computer systems and networks from hackers and viruses.

State-sponsored 529 college savings plans are the latest investment vehicle to draw scrutiny from legislators, as Congress prepares for a series of hearings to examine their fees, broker commissions and tax efficiency.

Ask your average mutual fund investor what impact the scandal has had on them, and what do you think you will hear?

The National Association of Securities Dealers has formed a mutual fund task force to recommend ways to make fund costs and distribution agreements more transparent to investors. Members of the mutual fund and broker/dealer communities will sit on the task force, which is being formed as a result of talks between the NASD and the SEC.

Invesco Funds confirmed this week that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has launched an investigation into possible misconduct, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

American Express is attempting to head off an investigation into its revenue-sharing agreements with mutual funds by the National Association of Securities Dealers, The Associated Press reports.

Strong Capital Management, its transfer agent and broker/dealer, along with founder Richard Strong and two executives, agreed to pay more than $175 million to settle with the SEC and the attorneys general of New York and Wisconsin Wednesday for market-timing abuses. As part of the deal, Strong and the two executives are permanently barred from the fund industry.

WASHINGTON – There is no guarantee that another scandal could not plague the fund industry, said ICI President Matthew Fink at the General Membership Meeting here. That’s why fund companies must work to ensure that breaches of fiduciary responsibility never occur again, Fink and other executives said.

Mutual fund executives participating in a forum at the Investment Company Institute’s General Membership Meeting in Washington protested a proposal by the Security and Exchange Commission to seat independent chairmen on fund boards, Reuters reports.