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Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco is adding 10 new exchange-traded funds to its line up of iShares exchange-traded funds, according to a preliminary prospectus filed late last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Talvest Fund Management of Montreal has announced that it has combined four equity funds into a single new fund, the Talvest Cdn. Multi Management Fund.

Pilgrim Baxter & Associates of Wayne, Pa., a subsidiary of United Asset Management Corp. of Boston, has filed a proxy with the SEC seeking to merge its PBHG International Fund into the PBHG Global Technology and Communications Fund. The consolidation is pending shareholder approval.

Two investment advisers with websites that facilitate online community investing have disclosed plans to introduce mutual funds that will be run by individual investors, not veteran fund managers.

The National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation last week issued a complaint against Dean Witter Reynolds of New York alleging the company used deceptive practices in the marketing of its proprietary bond funds known as Term Trusts.

The financial world may have to wait a little for the first actively-managed, exchange-traded fund, at least for the kind that leading exchange-traded fund sponsors are trying to develop.

Alliance Capital Management of New York has announced that the stockholders of the ACM Government Income Fund, with over $474 million in assets under management, have approved the acquisition of three other Alliance closed-end bond funds - the ACM Government Securities Fund, the ACM Government Spectrum Fund, and the ACM Government Opportunity Fund, which have combines assets under management of over $955 million.

In an effort to improve online interaction with consumers, the website of Pioneer Investment Management of Boston is offering "Financial CyberGuides" which, much like real advisors, listen and respond to investors' questions.

SSB Citi Asset Management Group of New York has introduced its first-ever family of no-load index funds. The family is comprised of 11 index funds. Two other index funds, pegged to the FORTUNE 500 and FORTUNE e-50 stock indexes - the Citi FORTUNE 500 Index Fund and the Citi FORTUNE e-50 Index Fund - are expected to be offered to investors beginning Nov. 27.

Earlier this month, NASD Regulation proposed a rule change which would give mutual fund companies more flexibility with regard to related performance' information in fund advertisements, according to Cindy Fornelli, senior advisor to the director of the division of investment management of the Securities and Exchange Commission. While the SEC supports the proposed changes, it would still like to see changes in the rules regarding manager performance, Fornelli said. NASD Regulation is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers of Washington, D.C.

The Business Checking Modernization Act, a bill in Congress that would repeal a law prohibiting banks from paying interest on business checking accounts, could create a new major competitor for money market funds.

The SEC has adopted new auditor independence rules with several notable changes from the original rule proposal.

Federated Investors of Pittsburgh is collaborating with Native American asset managers to create the first fund family for Native Americans. The first fund will be called 4 Winds Treasury Money Market Fund. The family's aim will be to get a large proportion of the money invested by the 500 tribes in the U.S., a figure calculated to be a total of $15 billion.

new york - Despite their growing popularity, exchange traded funds face substantial obstacles to continued growth, according to industry executives. Foremost among those obstacles are the heavy concentration of assets in a few products and the narrowness of their appeal, the lack of understanding of the products, the need for education and the high cost of entry into the market, according to executives who spoke at a conference on closed-end funds here last week sponsored by IBC USA Conferences of Westborough, Mass.

A request by the McGraw-Hill Companies of New York for a public hearing on the Vanguard Group's efforts to add an exchange-traded share class will most likely be denied, allowing Vanguard to launch the new shares, according to industry analysts.

BOSTON -The Securities and Exchange Commission is most likely to investigate fund companies about their allocation of 'hot IPOs' when a firm fails to provide adequate information about their allocations, according to Victoria Hulick, director of

Ever more mutual fund companies are offering managed, customized accounts for individual investors, according to a recently published report by Cerulli Associates of Boston.

A hostile takeover bid for Mackenzie Financial of Toronto has put Canada's fifth largest Canadian fund company in play. What remains in doubt is whether the victor will be the opening bidder, C.I. Fund Management of Toronto. There is widespread speculation that a rival will come forward, either from within or outside Canada.

Liberty Financial Companies of Boston has announced that it has retained the investment-banking firm of CS First Boston to help review its strategic alternatives, including a "possible sale" of the company. The company also reported preliminary financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

Neuberger Berman of New York has announced that it intends to acquire the private asset management business of Delta Capital Management LLC, also of New York, which has approximately $550 million in assets under management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but it is expected to close before the end of the year. Francis L. Fraenkel and Peter K. Loeb, managers of Delta's private asset management group, will be managing directors at Neuberger Berman's private asset-management group, the firm announced. Both Fraenkel and Loeb specialize in the large-cap growth style of management.