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While the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 14.3% in the third quarter, many mutual fund categories performed worse, according to Lipper.

The Investment Company Institute has named Gregory Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Franklin Resources as chairman for a one-year term. As chairman, Johnson will oversee ICI’s board of governors, which sets policies and oversees the institute.

Litman Gregory Fund Advisors has launched the Litman Gregory Masters Alternative Strategies Fund, a multi-manager, multi-strategy fund that offers investors diversified exposure to absolute return-oriented strategies.

In July, forward-thinking fund managers were trying to figure out what might happen to their holdings if -- heaven forbid -- the unimaginable might occur. In this case, the unimaginable was whether a major ratings agency might downgrade U.S. debt, given the fractiousness of American political decision-making.

NYSE Euronext said activity on its U.S. stock exchanges fell 19.8 percent in September from August.

Russell Investments has launched four additional investment discipline exchange traded funds, the new offerings focused on small-cap indexes. Russell’s investment discipline indexes take indexing to the next level by aiming to mirror the way equity managers invest.

Risk management software firm Algorithmics said that it will work with Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking to develop a counterparty credit valuation adjustment product that SocGen can use to actively price and manage counterparty credit risk across all asset classes.

On the heels of the success of its Keeley Small Cap Dividend Value Fund, Keeley Asset Management has launched the Keeley Mid Cap Dividend Fund.

Brown Advisory has launched the Brown Advisory Tactical Bond Fund, a fund focused on total return that, using a quantitative modeling process to track macro movements in bond sectors, will invest in fixed-income products including tax-exempt municipal bonds, corporate bonds, U.S. Treasury bonds, Treasury inflation protected securities and cash equivalents.

A majority of married couples in their 60s lack the knowledge about how to maximize their Social Security benefits and whether or not to expect Social Security advice from a financial planner.

Investors have pulled nearly $80 billion this year out of mutual funds that invest in U.S. stocks. That's the tally after investors yanked $5.5 billion from all types of mutual funds in the last week of September.

Frank Roccisano has been named complex manager in Kentucky and West Virginia at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

While the boards of directors of mutual funds are not responsible for managing risk, they still have a key role to play in overseeing investment and operational risks, according to a white paper just released by the Investment Company Institute and Independent Board of Directors.

ProShares has launched the first ETFs in the United States to provide magnified or inverse exposure to VIX futures.

UBS AG has accepted the resignations of global equities co-heads Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara and named Mike Stewart as the sole global head of equities following an unauthorized trading scandal that came to light last month.

The resignations of Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara follow CEO Oswald Gruebel’s departure less than three weeks ago.

BNY Mellon Shareholder Services has launched Mobile Proxy Voting, enabling client companies to extend electronic proxy voting to smartphones, tablets and other web-connected mobile devices.

ING knows people of all ages are now virtually tethered to their smartphones and tablet PCs, so it’s rolling out a new program to help employees instantly enroll in their employers’ retirement plans.

The Investment Management Consultants Association appointed Elizabeth Piper-Bach, CFP, as chair of its 2012 board of directors. She leads a slate of four new officers and four new board members for the new term.

A senior executive with FINRA sought to tamp down the concerns that many investment advisors have raised about empowering the self-regulatory organization with oversight of the sector, pledging that significant reforms would accompany any such transition.