Special Program Root Tag

Putnam Investments agreed to pay $110 million for its mutual fund trading misdeeds on Wednesday, settling on an amount far less than what regulators indicated they would seek if the case went to litigation.

The Senate Banking Committee, concluding its 10th hearing yesterday on the mutual fund scandal, may not introduce new regulations for the mutual fund industry but allow the new SEC regulations to kick in, the New York Post reports.

Janus paid lofty bonuses to its senior executives last year despite the company's abysmal corporate governance during that period

AXA Distributors has introduced Sales Wizard, a new sales tool available to advisers through its online wholesaler Web site. The tool allows advisers to access contact lists and generates a sales package in five steps.

Deutsche Bank has found accounting problems in the way it calculated expenses for nearly 200 of its Scudder Investments family of funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Despite its position on the rating watch negative list, Marsh & McLennan, the parent company of maligned fund giant Putnam Investments, received a senior debt rating of A+ from Fitch. The company's short-term rating was placed at F1.

Barclays Global Investors Canada has declared April 12 "Fee Freedom Day," the date when investors will be able to keep all of their returns, rather than pay management fees. The firm calculates the date based on five-year median returns on Canadian equity funds. Last year, "Fee Freedom Day" fell on July 28, due to improved returns in 2004.

Morgan Stanley announced yesterday that it intends to acquire Barra Inc., a stock and bond index analysis specialist, in a cash transaction valued at $816.4 billion.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corp. in Boston, promoted Peter Leahy Tuesday to chief operating officer.

Collective punishment from small mutual fund investors outweighs industry fines

Excessive swapping of variable annuity contracts has now become a focus among securities regulators. who say the activities potentially amount to a form of churning, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining potential market timing activity in a Baltimore branch of Morgan Stanley, The Wall Street Journal reports. While the SEC and the NASD have sanctioned the firm for its sales practices, this is the first time it is being investigated for timing.

Employees of maligned fund giant Putnam Investments tiptoed around company procedures in the area of expense payments, several Putnam funds admitted in a series of disclosures to shareholders.

Lars Soderberg, executive vice president of institutional services and member of the management committee at Janus Capital, has agreed to take a leave of absence from the company, during which time Janus said it "will continue to evaluate Soderberg’s future role with the company, in light of the ongoing investigation of the mutual fund industry and related regulatory matters."

The New York State Attorney General’s office released the indictment of former Bank of America broker Theodore C. Sihpol, III yesterday, detailing the 40 counts of fraud, grand larceny, violation of general business and falsifying business records, he is facing.

Paying attention to what is happening underneath them can help fund directors recognize and stymie potential wrongdoing, Securities and Exchange Commission Paul Roye told a group of new mutual fund directors Friday

There are no buzzer beaters in the mutual fund industry. Theoretically, a trade completed at 3:59:59 may be considered a last-second shot, but it lacks the emotion and drama of, say, North Carolina State's last-second dunk to nip Houston in the 1983 national championship contest.

A court date to determine the dollar amount that Putnam must pay is fast approaching, but the two sides appear farther apart than ever, with the SEC looking for disgorgement and fines that could reach at least $800 million.

There are no buzzer beaters in the mutual fund industry. Theoretically, a trade completed at 3:59:59 may be considered a last-second shot, but it lacks the emotion and drama of, say, North Carolina State's last-second dunk to nip Houston in the 1983 national championship contest.

Secretary of the Treasury John Snow called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to continue its restructuring of the mutual fund industry but urged more reforms in order to not sacrifice the positive aspects of funds.