Special Program Root Tag

Deborah Fuhr, a veteran ETF industry observer, says the explosive growth of ETFs is vindication for a product once dismissed by some investment professionals. In a discussion with Money Management Executive, Fuhr outlines factors that have led to the market's enthusiastic acceptance of ETFs.

The top regulator of mutual funds, private equity and hedge funds at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will step down later this month.

As digital strategies move to the forefront, asset management firms are changing the way they think about their brands, how they communicate their offerings to potential clients - and the teams building that marketing outreach.

BlackRock’s chief executive officer has warned the retreat of banks as counterparties in credit will create severe volatility. Regulators are preparing new rules for mutual funds to ensure that a sudden stampede out of funds won’t result in a downward price spiral that threatens the financial system.

Federal authorities are considering expanded regulation of large mutual fund companies, a move that opponents say threatens to bleed value out of the fund industry and aims to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

A group of nine fund managers is said to be planning to start a dark pool dedicated to large stock trades later this year. The new market -- named Luminex -- will admit asset managers who bet on prices to increase, sources said.

The industry in 2014 saw Pimco bleed billions after the abrupt departure of Bill Gross in September, while BlackRock reaped the benefits of that disarray. BlackRock's iShares ETFs captured $102.8 billion in investments in 2014. Also, Vanguard announced it would offer its first ETF focused on the $3.6 trillion U.S. municipal bond market, and a Cerulli study detailed the state of the annuities market.

Acadian Asset Management, the Boston-based quant fund that says it shares its investment secrets with clients, has set up in Japan as the nation starts to embrace smart beta strategies.

BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, attracted a record amount of new money in the fourth quarter, helped by demand for exchange traded funds and turmoil at a rival bond manager Pimco.

Landing a leadership role in the financial industry takes years of experience and an impressive resume. But it also takes poise, polish and the ability to captivate a room. Think of it as stage presence for the business world.

Pimco will fight a lawsuit by a shareholder of its Total Return Fund alleging the company gouges investors with excessive advisory fees to support billion-dollar bonuses for top executives.

As additional regulations are anticipated this year, the industry is beginning to aggressively seek to defragment the technology, data and services most critical to improving business performance and reducing operational and reputational risk.

Dimensional is among a small group of managers toppling the dominance of firms such as Fidelity Investments and Capital Group, which have built their reputations on picking individual stocks. Among the fastest-growing U.S. mutual fund firms after assets surged almost six-fold in the past decade, Dimensional attracted almost $28 billion in new money in 2014.

Eric R. Ervin didn't take long to make a decision to leave Morgan Stanley and co-found San Diego, Calif.,-based ETF provider Reality Shares. Ervin recounts some of the challenges that he faced from the beginning of the venture and how he was able to overcome his self-doubts.

Bill Gross said he was fired from Pimco, the first time he’s publicly confirmed that he was dismissed from the firm he co-founded in 1971.

At the SourceMedia MDM & Data Governance Summit in New York, TIAA-CREF, along with Princeton, N.J.,-based Global IDs, a technology firm that provides companies methods to manage their information, discussed the challenges of the big data problem and finding answers.

The final two months of 2014 made the year for some managers who were able to navigate plunging oil prices, surging stock-market volatility and a rising dollar, catapulting these firms to returns of 20% or more.

Pacific Investment Management Co., the firm that has been pushing into equities since 2009, is expanding its stock offerings by adding seven new strategies with Robert Arnott’s Research Affiliates.

Many firms manage the distribution of summary prospectuses and upkeep of the related websites in-house via a painstaking manual process. However, these firms may not be aware of how much this effort is costing them and whether they are truly complying with Rule 498 and delivering a positive investor experience.

The majority of money gathered by Gross’s new fund at Janus Capital Group Inc. came from the same Morgan Stanley brokerage where his personal financial adviser works, according to the Wall Street Journal. The wealth-management office in La Jolla, Calif., routed about $700 million to Gross’s fund in October and November, the newspaper reported yesterday.