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U.S. Bancorp Asset Management has named Matt Finn as the new lead manager of the First American Large Cap Value Fund, which had more than $949 million in assets under management as of March 31. The current fund manager, Brent Mellum, will continue to be an important member of the fund's management team, according to the firm.

Bridgeway Capital Management has hired Mike Mulcahy as a partner and director and Michael E. Rome as a partner.

Integrity Mutual Funds has promoted Jeffery A. Lindsey to director of marketing.

DUBLIN - Industry executives here painted the Isle's future as an offshore domicile as big and bold, but representatives from Continental European countries spoke of several difficult tasks ahead for their markets stemming from three years of the bear market.

Financial services company Northern Trust is expected to announce more job cuts soon, according to industry analysts interviewed in a recent Reuters report. The company has already cut jobs this year in an attempt to lower costs.

Gabelli Asset Management announced that its chief financial officer will be leaving the firm to pursue outside business interests, the Associated Press reports. Robert Zuccaro, who was hired in 1998 as a controller and quickly promoted to CFO, has announced his departure next month.

The NASD has advised its members that they must save all instant message communications for at least three years and ensure that those messages follow guidelines for sales literature and correspondence. Similar rules already apply to the use of e-mails.

John Hancock Advisers, which manages $25.6 billion in assets, launched its eighth closed-end fund that invests in preferred securities, and its twelfth closed-end fund overall.

So far this year, hedge funds are not living up to their reputation as a good way of beating the market. Hedge funds rose 2.94% in May, but the S&P 500 gained 5.09% in the month, according to HedgeFund.net. So far this year, the S&P is up 9.52%, whereas hedge funds are up 6.79%. However, the top 25% of hedge funds have gained 10.06% year-to-date.

American Express Financial Corp. has introduced three new mutual funds within its fixed-income line. The funds will be distributed by American Express financial advisers, American Express Brokerage and select American Express retirement plans.

Individual investors in Japan are selling their stock funds, according to a survey conducted by Nomura Research Institute (NRI), as reported by Reuters.

Lockwood Advisors , Bank of New York’s managed account subsidiary, is using its alliances with the banking company to broaden its menu of products in order to go down market for wallet share.

Janus Capital Group has named a new executive vice president and chief operating officer, Reuters reports.

Vanguard Investments Europe, which has traditionally targeted the institutional investor, is now setting its sights on retail distribution on the continent, initially in Belgium.

WASHINGTON – A model regulation on the sale of fixed and variable annuities to seniors has hit turbulent airspace a week from the New York meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Hedge funds gained value in May, according to the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index, which on Monday reported a 2.71% rise for the month.

As the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets met Wednesday for a hearing on the Mutual Funds Integrity and Fee Transparency Act, the Investment Company Institute threw its support behind many provisions of the bill.

In spite of the continued market rally in May, equity mutual funds attracted $8.2 billion in the month, down from the $14 billion in April, Lipper reported Wednesday. It was the first time in a year that that equity funds had three straight months of inflows, and the types of equity funds that investors preferred were conservative – namely income, balanced and convertible securities funds.

Many 401(k) investors are not well diversified, Reuters reports.

Investment banks that bucked the market downturn with fixed-income issues may soon be scrambling to find additional bond underwriting business, Reuters reports. Many investment banks posted strong revenues in the first quarter due to the boom in the bond market, and are likely to report strong earnings again in the second. But the big question many bond analysts are now asking is whether this can last.