Subject Root Tag

William Blair Names Chief Operating Officer

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the asset management industry is booming, and demand is not likely to stop anytime soon, nor are the competitive prices buyers are willing to pay for the deals. However, market turmoil and a more challenging leveraged finance environment could temporarily cool the enthusiasm of some private equity shops for asset managers and derail initial public offerings,

The acquisition of CheckFree Corp. of Norcross, Ga., by Fiserv of Brookfield, Wis., announced on Aug. 2, has raised questions as to whether CheckFree's investment services division will stay or go, perhaps being independently sold off to the highest bidder. The unit provides the separately managed account (SMA) technology, including client reporting and portfolio management, for investment managers and broker/dealers.

While mutual fund companies and investment banks have had meteorologists on their trading desks for almost 30 years, the practice apparently is increasing-affecting portfolio managers' trading decisions not only of commodities, power, utilities, agriculture and energy securities, but also consumer goods, transportation, construction, infrastructure, shipping and leisure. In addition, in the past 10 years, the insight of meteorologists on the trading floor has led to the development of weather risk management tools-futures, derivatives and insurance.

With a new Internal Revenue Service requirement about to require 403(b) sponsors to assume fiduciary duty, much as 401(k) sponsors do, and pare back the number of offerings, the sponsors are inevitably going to scrutinize their plan administrators.

The Pension Protection Act ushered in far-reaching changes to 401(k) plans, including fiduciary protection for providers using automatic enrollment and default investments, and making permanent higher contribution levels and catch-up contributions for older workers.

Hedge funds must learn to open up a little while clamping down on operational risk management, according to a recent web presentation by Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu.

Implementing automatic enrollment and auto-escalation in 401(k) plans is a start in the effort to push employees to prepare for retirement, but it may not be enough.

While mutual fund companies and investment banks have had meteorologists on their trading desks for almost 30 years, the practice apparently is increasing-affecting portfolio managers' trading decisions not only of commodities, power, utilities, agriculture and energy securities, but also consumer goods, transportation, construction, infrastructure, shipping and leisure. In addition, in the past 10 years, the insight of meteorologists on the trading floor has led to the development of weather risk management tools-futures, derivatives and insurance.

GAO Suggests Incentives To Keep Workers Working

McColgan Leaving Fidelity To Pursue Opportunities'

While sell-side research struggles to keep up its allure with the buy-side, many mutual fund companies are turning to alternative research, as it can offer unique and innovative ideas.

Citigroup's acquisition of BISYS for $1.47 billion last May, with a subsequent spin off of two units to private equity firm J.C. Flowers appeared to be a done deal. But one last under-the-radar acquisition took place two weeks ago.

The subprime mortgage crisis appears to be spreading beyond the credit markets, dampening not only the U.S. stock market, but also international markets.

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed two bills that would prevent lawsuits against mutual and pension funds that divest holdings in companies that are doing business in Darfur and Iran.

Globalization may be coming in baby steps. In the effort to move to a single, universal financial reporting standard, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously last month to open for public comment a proposal to allow U.S. companies-including investment companies-to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for their SEC filings, rather than U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Relaxation of Sarbanes-Oxley audit and reporting rules passed unanimously by the Securities and Exchange Commission last month may address the burdensome compliance costs of the law that companies-especially small ones-complained about, but it probably won't be enough to reverse the small-cap slide.

Workers are starting to catch on to all the ominous warnings of what will happen if they don't save enough for retirement, and the average 401(k) account increased 17% in 2006 from the previous year.

The subprime mortgage crisis appears to be spreading beyond the credit markets, dampening not only the U.S. stock market, but also international markets.

BoA Snags Jeffrey Carney From Fidelity Investments