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Critics of 401(k) plans say they have failed the nation's workers because they don't equip them with financial advice. Although the Pension Protection Act prescribes giving guidance, it is vague on what it should constitute and, therefore, hasn't prompted many plan sponsors or administrators to provide such assistance. Without clear rules, they are afraid of fiduciary liability.

Although the market was hammered this month by subprime loans, individual mutual funds aren't likely to have much exposure to the volatile sector. Most subprime lenders are small-cap companies, and, as such, funds won't have large amounts of cash invested in them. In addition, most mutual funds are diversified.

As it approaches its first birthday, the Gaming and Casino Fund, now managed by Ahrens Advisors of Dallas, is ready to welcome a brand new parent.

Critics of 401(k) plans say they have failed the nation's workers because they don't equip them with financial advice. Although the Pension Protection Act prescribes giving guidance, it is vague on what it should constitute and, therefore, hasn't prompted many plan sponsors or administrators to provide such assistance. Without clear rules, they are afraid of fiduciary liability.

ICI Selects Olson as Senior Counsel of Int'l Affairs

JPMorgan Finds Flaws in Target-Date Funds' Design

Evergreen Hires Cieszko As Distribution Chief

It hopes to double the number of banks, trusts, and advisory firms it assists in meeting the investment needs of the very wealthy.

Discount broker Charles Schwab has been ordered by the New York Stock Exchange to compensate a former employee for "emotional distress" caused by the firm's handling of her computer.

Advisors can anticipate the rollout of a full suite of marketing and sales tools designed to help them expand their IRA businesses.

The distributor and investment advisor for the Franklin Templeton family of mutual funds has agreed to pay $20 million to settle charges that they made ill use of brokerage commissions.

Fidelity Investments is gearing up for a fight with federal regulators now questioning a business relationship between a pair of siblings who handle a fraction of the fund giant's trading business. Fidelity trader David K. Donovan and his younger brother, Peter Donovan, an employee of Bank of American Securities, are under investigation for forging an improper business relationship, attorneys close to the case told The Boston Globe last week.

Say it ain't so, Fido.

The largest scandal in the mutual fund industry's 80-year history has prompted regulators to revamp how funds conduct business by implementing a series of reforms. Dozens of firms have been sued and accused of fraud, a handful of executives are facing criminal charges and investors have realized how little they really know about how their retirement dollars are being invested.

First Command Financial Services, a leading seller of financial products to military personnel, agreed last Wednesday to pay $12 million to settle allegations that it used shady sales practices to pitch mutual funds to thousands of enlisted men and women over the last five years.

SEC Governor Cynthia Glassman once again spoke out vehemently against the Commission's new rule that will require fund boards to have independent chairmen. "This debate is not over," she said, referring to a lawsuit that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has brought against the SEC and a request by Congress for the Commission to look at the effects of the new rule.

Soon to retire Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) recently applauded the efforts of federal securities regulators for their continuing efforts to enact a series of mutual fund reforms that benefit individual investors.

The NASD has come down on 29 broker/dealers for more than 8,000 instances of failing to disclose reportable information to customers. The firms have neither admitted to nor denied allegations, but consented to the entry of the findings. Reportable information includes customer complaints, regulatory actions, criminal charges and convictions.

Two attacks on the SEC's requirement for independent board chairmen are unlikely to topple the hotly contested rule, industry insiders say, and like it or not, funds run by outsiders could find their fees, and therefore their profits, reduced. But one ploy that could result would be a delay past the current Jan. 16, 2006 deadline for funds to install independent chairmen.

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives would permit employers to offer a hybrid defined benefit plan and defined contribution plan with employees receiving a single statement.