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The Office of Thrift Supervision was more focused on blocking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. from reining in Washington Mutual Inc. than it was in regulating the thrift company itself, congressional investigators and two watchdogs said Thursday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission task force on hedge funds, buyout funds and mutual funds is looking to hire five fund managers, chief operating officers or executives with “direct exposure to trading and operations,” according to a help-wanted ad it placed last month. The SEC has also retained executive search firm Korn/Ferry International.

In line with its own worst-case-scenario forecast, Charles Schwab Corp. reported a significant decline in first-quarter earnings due in part to a 19% decline in trading revenue. The San Francisco-based discount brokerage company announced Thursday that profits declined 45% to $119 million, or 10 cents per share, from $218 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 12% to $978 million.

Use of target-date funds is up significantly thanks to their status as qualified default investment alternatives under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the growth of automatic enrollment in company-sponsored plans, according to a new Vanguard study.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday proposed tracking large blocks of trades by mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity firms and other large institutional investors. The SEC defines a large trader as those that trade $20 million or more in securities in a day, or 20 million shares or $200 million during any calendar month.

Fidelity Investments has begun its search to replace former president Rodger Lawson and has interviewed at least three external candidates for the position over the past few months, Bloomberg reports, citing three people familiar with the search.

A new role for the former FIMRA executive at a New York law firm, executive changes at Evercore, and more.

While automatic enrollment is boosting target-date fund assets, plan participants are choosing them of their own accord, too.

Fidelity helped 50 brokers breakaway in the first quarter. The challenge is helping them remain independent.

The gap between advisors and clients when it comes to what each thinks are the risks in retirement is vast.

Robert Manning will be promoted from CEO and CIO at the end of the year.

Sen. Ron Wyden, who recently caused a stir in the municipal bond market by proposing a tax-reform bill that would eliminate tax-exempt bonds and replace them with tax-credit bonds, said yesterday he is open to discussing possible modifications to the legislation with critics.

Dealmaker was involved with Pfizer purchase of Wyeth

While the subject continues to be hotly contested, at least one regulator, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, is satisfied that the pending regulatory reform bill would put eila Bair, is satisfied that the pending regulatory reform bill would put a stop to government bailouts.

Republicans and Democrats escalated the rhetorical war over regulatory reform on Wednesday, with each side accusing the other of playing politics.

Over the past few months, the Obama administration has gradually backed away from providing a near-term plan for Fannie and Freddie after missing a self-set February deadline.

MFS Investment Management has named Robert Manning, its current CEO and CIO, to succeed Robert Pozen as chairman of the company. Pozen is set to retire at the end of the year, an announcement said today.

As sentiment among wealth managers shifts, more capital has become available and companies right-size, banks, trust companies, wealth managers, and bank brokerages that are in a strong position to expand into a new market and acquire new units, will do so. But it is also the moment when companies without the capital—and stability—will get left behind.

Boosted by its investment banking and wealth management units, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported stronger than expected first-quarter results. The New York-based company posted first-quarter earnings today of $3.33 billion, or 74 cents a share, a 55% increase from the year-ago period. JPMorgan Chase’s overall revenue rose 5% to $28.17 billion.

Citi Alternative Investment LLC has sold three hedge fund business units—a fund-of-hedge funds, hedge fund seeding and hedge fund advisory businesses with a collective $4.2 billion of assets under management—to Skybridge Capital, a New York-based hedge fund incubator. The price of the deal was not disclosed.