Subject Root Tag

Scudder Defined Contribution Services, a division of Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston, has linked up with Financial Engines, an Internet-based advisory firm based in Palo Alto, Calif., to deliver advice to retirement plan participants.

The mutual fund industry is now mulling the implications of the recent courtroom encounter between money manager Louis Navellier, of Navellier Investment Management of Reno, Nev., and three independent fund trustees.

E*Trade of Palo Alto, Calif. plans to expand its family of index funds with an Internet index fund. The new fund, the E*Trade E-Commerce Index Fund, was filed with the SEC on July 26. The fund will invest in the stocks in the Goldman Sachs E-Commerce Composite Index, which tracks companies that derive most of their revenue online or sell e-commerce infrastructure.

Allianz Group of Munich, Germany is developing its breadth of financial products in the U.S. and is planning a family of mutual funds to be sold here.

Mutual fund attorneys are reviewing the risk disclosures in key SEC filings for the funds they advise because of what appears to be a unique case making its way through federal court in Nashville, Tenn.

It is unfortunate that the July 15 hearing in the case of Philip Goldstein v. Scudder New Europe Fund (MFMN, 7/26/99 ) remained mired in legal interpretations instead of delving into the real issue at hand. The presiding judge and attorneys focused on interpretations of SEC no-action letters. They never got into a debate on the pros and cons of imposing redemption fees on closed-end funds when they open. Industry observers argue both ways, and it is a debate worth having.

Barclays Global Investors - the giant institutional money management firm in San Francisco - is planning to offer 51 exchange-traded index funds, a lineup that is expected to raise the firm's presence among retail investors and increase competition in a slice of the open-end index fund market.

Shareholders suffered another in a string of losses in cases they have brought challenging the independence of mutual fund directors.

Texas money manager J. Paul Hamilton is getting into a part of the mutual fund business that does not get a lot of attention - the irrevocable trust business.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter of New York plans to introduce a growth fund that will invest in the companies at which teenagers spend their money.

The Investment Company Institute of Washington, D.C., has suggested changes in an SEC rule proposal governing how mutual funds oversee their securities held in foreign countries. The ICI said it was troubled by language in the proposed amendment to rule 17f-5 of the Investment Company Act and a proposed new rule 17f-7. Together, the rule proposals, which require a fund's global custodian to monitor the risk of using sub-custodians in foreign countries under certain circumstances, could effectively prohibit funds from investing in some countries, the ICI said. The SEC should adopt language in the rule making it clear that funds could use a foreign sub-custodian, despite risks associated with the firm, the ICI said in a letter dated July 15 to the SEC.

Nomura IBJ Global Investment Advisors of New York plans to offer by year-end defined contribution pension plans modeled on 401(k) plans in the U.S. Nomura IBJ Global is a joint venture between Nomura Securities and the Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd., both headquartered in Tokyo.

Shareholders of four Fidelity funds are being asked to reconsider approval of PricewaterhouseCoopers of New York as the funds' independent auditor in light of new revelations that raise questions about the independence of the accounting firm in its role as auditor to the funds.

NEW YORK - Scudder Kemper Investments of New York successfully thwarted an attempt by arbitrageur Phillip Goldstein to stop a shareholder vote that combined the issues of whether to open a fund and impose a redemption fee on those cashing out of the newly-opened fund.

PFPC Worldwide, the pooled investment products and mutual fund administration, transfer agency and back office servicing unit of PNC Bank Corp. in Pittsburgh, has agreed to purchase First Data Investor Services Group for $1.1 billion in cash. Investor Services Group is the investment product servicing arm of First Data Corp. of Atlanta, one of the largest electronic payment and processing services companies. PFPC is based in Wilmington, Del.

The U.S. Department of Labor in conjunction with the Investment Company Institute and other trade groups is urging employers to use a new form that requires 401(k) providers to make detailed disclosures about their fees.

A U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco found in favor of the three former independent mutual fund trustees being sued by Louis Navellier and his asset management firm, Navellier Investment Management of Reno, Nev.

Frank Russell Co. of Tacoma, Wash. has teamed up with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi of Tokyo to create a family of multi-manager funds. This will be the first time that multi-manager funds have been available to individual investors in Japan.

Guinness Flight Global Asset Management has won the license to the Internet Stock Index from internet.com Corp. of Westport, Conn. Guinness Flight has filed with the SEC to create a new no-load fund, the Guinness Flight internet.com Index Fund, which is expected to be available to investors on July 30.

Dow Jones Indexes of Princeton, N.J., has established a new index that will track multi-national companies. The Dow Jones Titans Index will watch 50 of the world's largest multi-national companies. Both John Nuveen & Co. and Nike Securities L.P. are expected to start products that use the index by the third quarter of the year, according to Dow Jones Indexes.