Special Program Root Tag

To help with its U.S. development and support operations, Man Investments has announced the hiring of Alan F. Delcorse and Russell C. Smith as vice presidents of intermediary sales. The two will work out of Chicago. Man Investments, the U.S. wing of Man Group PLC's asset management division, said the two will be responsible for the company's relationships in both the Chicago area and the Northeast.

American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo., is breaking out of its previous mold. With approximately $90 billion in assets under management, American Century spent much of 2003 setting the groundwork for its reemergence as a bigger and better money manager.

Even the throes of the fund scandal cannot keep some firms from bragging about themselves.

U.S. Bancorp, the eighth-largest U.S. bank, said on Thursday that four of its mutual fund portfolio managers have left the firm, Reuters reports.

Vanguard’s Precious Metals Fund will begin to invest in non-precious metals and the fund name will be changed to accommodate this, the company’s board of trustees announced Thursday.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s ongoing settlement talks with Janus Capital Group may result in the dismissal of the firm’s chief executive officer, Mark Whiston, CBS MarketWatch reports.

Two Putnam Investments portfolio managers resigned Friday although neither was said to be involved in the improper trading that has pulverized the nation's sixth largest mutual fund company, Reuters reports.

In its ongoing drive toward fixing what it believes are the New York Stock Exchange’s most serious problems, California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, the nation’s top public pension fund, has nominated former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt and current Relational Investors LLC executive Ralph Whitworth to the Big Board’s board.

Mutual fund shareholders' woes stemming from revelations of endemic misconduct amounted to a windfall for investment bankers. The pace of consolidation within the asset management industry continues to accelerate under the weight of massive regulatory investigation, according to a new study by Putnam Lovell NBF Securities.

Putnam Investments made a play this week to acquire an additional 30% of institutional money manager PanAgora Asset Management from Nippon Life Insurance Co., Reuters reports. The deal, in which details were not released, raises Putnam's holdings in PanAgora to 80%.

The SEC is going to be paying closer attention to abnormal buying and selling in mutual funds, The Wall Street Journal reports. Cash flow is one area that will get heightened scrutiny.

The SEC’s proposal to require mutual funds to disclose the fees investors based on a $1,000 investment, is a step in the right direction – but it doesn’t go far enough.

Mutual fund boards known for their clubby atmospheres may soon turn to professional headhunters as a means of recruiting individuals who meet new standards of independent directors, Dow Jones reports.

State Street Securities may soon extend its powerful hold on the U.S. securities custody business into France, Germany and the United Kingdom if its talks with the asset management division Axa, the giant French insurer, lead to a deal, according to Reuters.

Credit Suisse First Boston has announced the creation of an alternative investments unit.

Putnam Investments paid two of its top portfolio managers "lavish compensation" in 2000, according to today’s Wall Street Journal, citing an SEC report. Justin M. Scott received $14.3 million, while Omid Kamshad got $8.7 million. The two are now under SEC and Massachusetts investigation for market timing.

More than six decades after Congress approved a cornerstone of the mutual fund business formally known as The Investment Act of 1940, shareholder advocates are urging legislators to for new rules aimed at safeguarding novice investors, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The once sleepy inner-sanctum of mutual fund boardrooms is under fire from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and securities regulators who have a new mantra: trustees are accountable.

Pioneer Investment Management reached out to financial adviser clients this week through a new retail advertising campaign urging individual investors to partner with investment professionals.

AIM Investments has stepped up efforts to publicly disclose its directed brokerage activities and allocation of marketing fees. Newly drafted prospectus supplements filed with the SEC clearly outline the fund provider's intent to set non-binding sales goals with third-party brokerage firms and other potential investment distributors, a move lauded by shareholder advocates but implemented by very few asset managers.