Subject Root Tag

Charles Boucher is leaving his post as chief information officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after 19 months.

Two big names in industry circles — Eric Hovde and Jay Sidhu — just planted seeds they hope will sprout into the East Coast's next billion-dollar banking companies.

Charles Boucher is leaving his post as chief information officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after 19 months.

The Morningstar 2010 Investment Conference in Chicago was chock-full of sessions on international investing, and the hallways were abuzz with talk of emerging markets. Yet some fund managers damped the excitement, saying that although emerging markets are hot, these investments will not be able to live up to expectations.

The hot topic in the media right now is actively managed exchange-traded funds. But given how relatively small the actively-managed ETF universe is compared to the overall ETF universe, this product has received an outsized amount of attention.

Demand for health savings accounts seems to be reviving after a long period of inertia that preceded the passage of health care reform.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said in a speech on Friday that she personally backs a blanket fiduciary standard for advisors.

The good news for investors is that actively-managed ETFs are likely to grow further and are showing some momentum.

Aon Corp. announced Monday it is buying Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion, with the aim of creating the world’s leading “human capital solutions” company. The combined company will be called Aon Hewitt.

Municipal bond mutual funds last week rebounded from a brief spell of cash leakage with the biggest influx of new money in four months.

Shorter Maturities, BAB Advantages

Hedge funds finished the volatile first half with modest declines.

Bankers may never be considered Boy Scouts on compensation, but in terms of the executive pay provisions in the financial reform bill, they certainly are prepared.

Hedge funds finished the volatile first half with modest declines. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index lost 0.81% in June, more than offsetting the gains in the first five months of the year to leave the index down 0.18% for the first half of 2010.

Fiduciary Trust Co. International continued its aggressive hiring spree, adding Mary Davey and Lisa Marcus as senior relationship manager and business development officer, respectively.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is making risk disclosures one of its highest priorities, with the goal of doing a better job of regulating derivates, hedge funds and credit rating agencies.

The financial services reform bill in Congress calls for 68 in-depth studies into financial services products and practices, including: performance data in mutual fund advertisements, short selling and stronger insurance regulation, which could impact annuities and other retirement income products.

The operational strength of a hedge fund is now just as important to institutional investors as the pedigree and track record of its manager. And fund managers are taking notice

Financial services companies have added some 2,000 jobs since layoffs peaked in February of this year, The New York Times reports. And while it may seem as if Wall Street jobs took the biggest hit in the recession, the industry has actually been pretty resilient. Since June 2008, jobs in financial services have dropped by 8.5%. By comparison, construction jobs decreased by 22%, and manufacturing employment fell 14%.

After the Depression, it took 25 years for the market to come back. After the “great recession” it took a matter of weeks.