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NEW YORK - The after-tax disclosure regulations that were recently adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission have several major flaws which will potentially hurt, not help, fund shareholders, according to Matthew Fink, president of the Investment Company Institute, who spoke here last week.

Whatifi Asset Management of San Francisco, the manger to the five fledgling Whatifi online mutual funds, is receiving an unspecified cash infusion as part of a second-round financing agreement with CIBC Capital Partners, a New York venture capital firm and a unit of CIBC World Markets of Toronto.

A pension reform bill that would increase retirement savings contribution limits and streamline the process for setting up retirement plans for small businesses will be introduced in the House of Representatives this week, according to Elizabeth Gregory, a spokesperson for The Financial Services Roundtable of Washington, D.C., a financial services company association.

Lance Brofman, a former principal of Fundamental Portfolio Advisors, a now defunct mutual fund group in New York, has been fined $250,000 by an SEC administrative law judge in New York and barred for life from associating with a broker/dealer, investment adviser or investment company.

NEW YORK - Fund companies continued to introduce new exchange-traded funds throughout the past year, but the market will not be able to support an unlimited number of the new products, according to several industry executives.

In a deal to solidify its status as Canada's largest mutual fund company and strengthen its hand against foreign-owned competitors, Investors Group of Winnepeg, Manitoba, has agreed to acquire the fifth-largest firm, Mackenzie Financial of Toronto.

American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo. has filed for the registration of a new fund that would carry harsh restrictions aimed at discouraging market timers from investing in the fund.

UMB Financial Corporation of Kansas City, Mo. signed a letter of intent last week to acquire Sunstone Financial Group of Milwaukee, Wis. for an undisclosed amount, according to Mim Allison, president and CEO of Sunstone.

The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States of New York, a unit of AXA Financial of New York, is in the process of developing the Equitable Premier Funds, a family of ten open-end, mutual funds.

Thomas H. Bailey, CEO and founder of Janus Capitol of Denver, sold half his stake in Janus to the company's parent, Stilwell Financial of Kansas City, Mo., for an undisclosed amount, Stilwell has announced.

The Hartford Financial Services Group of Simsbury, Conn. has agreed to purchase Fortis Financial Group, the variable life insurance, mutual fund and annuity arm of Fortis of Woodbury, Minn., for $1.12 billion in cash, Fortis has announced.

The Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa. has begun offering investors the ability to open new accounts online in a paperless transaction that collects investors' consent through electronic signatures, the company has announced.

New York Life Investment Management of Parsippany, N.J. has filed a registration statement with the SEC for its NYLIM Exchange-Traded Fund.

The Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer its Admiral share class, a discounted share class available to some investors, on 13 of its bond funds, the company has announced.

American Skandia Life Assurance Corporation of Shelton, Conn. has added three index portfolios and eight sector portfolios to its fund offerings, according to the company.

The Willamette Funds of Portland, Ore., is planning to introduce a new fund that will invest in companies that have received venture capital financing, according to a preliminary prospectus filed Jan. 19 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, long the scourge of fund marketing departments, may have given marketers something to smile about in adopting new regulations on after-tax disclosure of performance information. The new regulations, which require funds to post before and after-tax performance information in prospectuses and advertisements promoting funds' tax management, provide some funds a new approach to marketing their product, said industry executives. The regulations were adopted Jan. 19.

The SEC has adopted a new rule that will require mutual funds to hold at least 80 percent of their assets in securities that are consistent with their names, said SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, speaking last week to investors attending an SEC town hall meeting in Philadelphia.

Strong Capital Management of Menomonee Falls, Wis., the investment firm which manages the Strong family of funds and over $42 billion in assets, has announced it will exercise its option to acquire Strong Schafer Capital Management, the alliance between Strong and Schafer Capital Management.

WASHINGTON D.C. - An SEC examination has targeted between 30 to 40 mutual funds that are suspected of artificially inflating their quarter-end performance by engaging in a trading scheme known as portfolio pumping, said Lori Richards, director of the SEC's office of compliance, inspections and examinations.