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Survey data released yesterday from the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA) reveals 401(k) plans held at a steady pace in 2002, as employee deferral rates fell slightly while employer contributions ticked upward.

To fight charges that it allowed a hedge fund to trade illegally, Bank of America has hired the New York law firm Wilkie Farr & Gallagher to handle its case.

For the second time in six days, mutual fund companies received letters from the Securities and Exchange Commission last week inquiring how their funds are priced and traded.

Standard & Poor’s has expanded its mutual fund investment research and ranking services to include separately managed accounts through a partnership with Prima Capital.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is creating the position of director of industry relations to increase membership and improve relations with the insurance industry.

PFPC Worldwide Inc. has announced that it intends to buy Persimmon Research Partners, which does business as ADVISORport.

Bond funds had their worst month in at least 20 years and possibly ever, according to data released by Lipper Thursday.

A subplot to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s recent criminal charges against Bank of America and three fund companies for allowing hedge fund Canary Capital to trade fund shares after hours is the distinct possibility that instead of twice-a-year disclosures, Canary had daily insight into their holdings. As a result, regulators might soon force mutual fund companies to report specifics of their portfolios four times a year, and maybe even more often, a number of financial news services are reporting.

While acknowledging that smaller mutual funds can yield more in the short term, a report by research firm Lipper finds that in the long run, there isn’t much of a difference in returns between small and large mutual funds.

Fidelity Investments has added features to certain 401(k) plans, including automated rollover and more investment options, and has extended the field of eligible companies.

Even with stock-market indexes plummeting 22% since 1999, 401(k) holdings dropped just 8% over the same period of time, according to a joint study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Investment Company Institute.

Bear Stearns has hired Richard Devine and Howard Franzblau to be managing directors in its private-client services division. Devine and Franzblau, who are based in New York, provide investment advisory services and alternative investments to high-net-worth individuals and pension plans. They have about $550 million of assets under management.

Joseph Grano will retire from his position as head of UBS’ wealth management division on Jan. 1, and Mark Sutton, currently president, will assume his position, the firm announced Wednesday. Grano will remain as chairman, however, until the middle of next year.

The felony larceny and securities fraud charges against former broker Theodore Sihpol have forced Bank of America’s Nations Funds unit into a precarious spot in which losing investors is a distinct possibility, according to fund experts.

Asset management firm SEI Investments has hired Hyland Software of to power its separately managed account platform.

Even with current higher bond yields and the new tax relief on dividend payouts, U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs) are expected to provide excellent yields, a Janus executive told Reuters.

For those Morgan Stanley brokers who thought they were headed for the glory of Tom Cruise in "Days of Thunder," the National Association of Securities Dealers has another idea. NASD has fined Morgan Stanley $2 million for conducting prohibited mutual fund sales contests that offered such outlandish perks as tuition to a racing-car school.

Theodore C. Sihpol III, a former broker with Bank of America who was just fired from his job, has been charged with state criminal and federal civil charges.

Charles Schwab announced its outlook for the third quarter Tuesday, saying it is likely to meet or beat the Street’s projections with a profit of at least 9 cents a share, Reuters reports. Furthermore, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Dobbs told Reuters that customer trading has returned to robust levels.

Conseco has emerged from bankruptcy with a positive outlook, according to two rating agencies. Both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s have assigned the company B-level ratings and a positive outlook.