Special Program Root Tag

Max Rottersman has been pointing out problems in the mutual fund industry, shedding light on inconsistencies in data, and trying to drum up business for FundExpenses.com, a mutual fund data analysis firm based in New York, for which he serves as president.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has created a new unit called the savings products division to serve the aging Baby Boomer population. Products from the unit will be designed to generate reliable income during retirement while managing risk.

StillPoint Advisors Inc., a newly formed financial services company in Atlanta, s has acquired a wealth management team headed by Michael A. Bober and Edward D. Ventrice, both formerly of Smith Barney.

The free reign of hedge funds may soon come to an end as the SEC prepares new regulations.

Vanguard and Financial Engines, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based online portfolio management systems provider, this week unveiled a new turnkey asset allocation program designed for 401(k) investors.

The State of Rhode Island is overhauling its 529 college savings plan managed by Alliance as a result of the money manager’s market-timing scandal

Financial services giant Morgan Stanley the nation’s No. 2 securities firm, will liquidate 17 of its proprietary funds as part of a larger effort to overhaul its investment management arm.

U.S. Bancorp Asset Management has hired two portfolio managers from M&I Investment Corp.'s Marshall Funds in Milwaukee to manage its First American Small Cap Growth Opportunities Fund and also promoted a technology analyst to run its First American Small Cap Select Fund.

Fidelity Investments has announced a new program that will give the financial advisers who sell its 401(k) products better ways to inform those who invest in the plans.

SEI Invesments has introduced eBoardroom version 2.0, an upgrade of its board meeting software.

Mutual fund portfolio managers collect much more in fees than their separately managed account (SMA) counterparts, according to Dow Jones.

T. Rowe Price is adding a 2% redemption fee on all shares of its international funds not already employing the charge, the firm said on Tuesday.

Janus settled with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar for $225 million Tuesday for having permitted excessive market timing in its funds. The agreement, which was reached in cooperation with the SEC, includes $50 million in restitution, $50 million in civil penalties, $125 million in fee reductions over the next five years and $1 to be held in trust by the Colorado attorney general for investor education and future enforcement.

Mutual fund directors' salaries continued to climb last year despite widespread criticism that many trustees failed in their duties to uphold shareholders' interests, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Favorable market conditions are bringing out the bullish side of cautions fund managers

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Peter H. Bresnan as an associate director in its division of Enforcement. Bresnan, who was deputy chief litigation counsel of the SEC's division of enforcement since Nov., 2001, now holds a leading role in charting the Commission's investigation and enforcement actions. Between Nov. 2003 and April 2004 Bresnan also functioned as district administrator in the SEC's Boston-area operations.

The SEC is considering taking disciplinary action against firms that fail to follow fair-value guidelines for holdings with outdated prices, Commission officials told The Wall Street Journal.

After a weekend sweep of the New York Yankees, Boston may be atop the American League’s Eastern Division. But, according to The Boston Globe, the city’s 80-year position as the No. 1 hub for mutual funds in the nation might be faltering, not just because of the recent scandal.

Equity funds pulled in $23.3 billion in March, less than half of the $50 billion gained in January, according to Lipper of New York.

Prompted by 80 disciplinary actions over unsuitable annuity sales in the past two years, NASD Monday issued a broad set of rules on how registered reps should sell deferred variable annuities.