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By launching a new fund-of-funds called Portfolio Optimization Funds, Pacific Life Insurance Co. has added variety among the selections of 15 mutual funds and given permission to its registered representatives to open accounts and submit more investments.

After 22 years working at T. Rowe Price, 55-year-old William Reynolds will retire as the company’s fixed income director, effective this April.

President Bush proposed Monday a $913 million budget for the Securities and Exchange Commission, one that would represent a 12.5% increase in available funds for the regulatory agency.

Morningstar already raised eyebrows when it told investors to think twice about keeping their money with Putnam, Janus, Alliance and Strong. And now the leading fund research firm has gone even further out on a limb.

Continuing the recent trend of firms taking over as investment advisors for existing funds, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. has just finalized a long-discussed deal to grab the reigns of AXA Rosenberg Funds and thus created a new fund network, Laudus Funds.

Kevin Parke, president of Massachusetts Financial Services, may be suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with an investigation into the fund company's practices.

The editors of Money Management Executive want to know how Fundgate has affected your sales environment, customer service approach and communications at your firm. Our first questionnaire on Eliot Spitzer, the Investment Company Institute and regulatory reform was successfully completed last month. Keep an eye on MME for the results.

Alliance Capital Management said it plans to overhaul its retail mutual fund business, a long-term initiative that may involve shrinking its fund lineup.

U.S. mutual fund companies experienced a $178.9 billion increase in assets during December 2003, a 2.5% increase from November that brought the total fund industry asset total to $7.413 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute's "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" report for December 2003.

Vanguard Group, the nation’s second-largest mutual fund company, announced that 14 new exchange-traded funds began trading Friday on the American Stock Exchange.

To avert any potential scandals like those that have plagued equity analysts, the Bond Market Association has drafted its own guidelines for independent fixed income research. And these are slated for discussion this Friday at a BMA-sponsored Asset Managers Forum in New York.

OXFORD, Miss. -- The mutual fund fee bill is in the mail. And it should spell out, in hard dollars and cents, all the hidden costs of mutual funds, including 12b-1 fees. And these total costs can be so significant that in some cases they are several times greater than the fund's stated expense ratio.

Separately managed account pioneer Frank Campanale doesn't see any outstanding areas where regulators might swoop in and shake up the industry's foundation like in the mutual fund arena - but thinks there is a small window that might draw scrutiny.

Jack Bogle is in demand. Senators want his opinion. The best legal minds in the industry, including ICI Chairman Paul Haaga, are sparring with him (see mutual fund summit story, page one).

The editors of Money Management Executive are forming an editorial board comprised of some of the leaders in the mutual fund, separately managed account, 401(k), 529 and alternative investment industries to help guide the publication. Or, to put it more colloquially, to give us a reality check to ensure we are covering all of the top notes and high points in the retail asset management business.

The true cost of owning a mutual fund is like a submerged iceberg - investors only see the portion of the costs that are visible to them and not what is hidden beneath the surface.

Putnam Investments last Tuesday announced a host of initiatives to improve fund transparency and lower costs - which some reports estimate will reduce fees by some $35 million.

NEW YORK -- Emphasizing the increased role of state attorney generals in criminal enforcement, Eliot Spitzer distinguished between recent financial services industry scandals to a packed criminal justice section of the New York State Bar Association lawyers last Thursday.

The million-dollar question of how much Putnam Investments paid to the SEC and other regulators in its settlement was answered last week - and it turned out to be a $24 million question.

Bank of America announced in an internal memo recently that Keith Winn, the president of Bank of America Capital Management, has been named the investment product development and management executive for the organization expected to emerge from the BoA-Fleet Boston merger (see MME 11/3/03).