Subject Root Tag

WASHINGTON - The alphabet soup of fund share classes has become so confusing that the mutual fund industry, the SEC and Congress should examine whether the law that created the system should be changed, according to an industry executive.

It has not yet been determined whether Aegon's acquisition of Transamerica will mean Aegon's IDEX mutual funds and Transamerica's Premier Funds will be marketed together or if the two companies' sales teams will be merged, according to company spokespersons. But, the well-known Transamerica name will continue to be used after the deal closes sometime between June and August, a Transamerica spokesperson said. And, the Transamerica brand name and logo will probably be extended to Aegon products, the spokesperson said.

Analytic Investors, the quantitative money manager in Los Angeles with roughly $1 billion in assets under management, is renewing efforts to expand sales of its retail mutual funds.

GE Financial Assurance has added four new funds to the GE Family of Funds. The new funds are a European equity fund; a mid-cap value equity fund; an emerging markets fund and a high yield bond fund. GE Investment Management is adviser to the new funds, although the mid-cap fund uses NWQ Investment Management as a sub-adviser, and the high yield fund uses Miller Anderson Sherrerd.

Washington - The mutual fund industry needs to do more to hire minorities, according to an independent mutual fund director. Willie D. Davis, an independent director for the Strong Funds for the past five years, told mutual fund executives at a conference here that the issue of racial diversity is starting to appear "on the screen" for the mutual fund industry. Davis, who is African-American, said that in hiring and on "social issues," the mutual fund industry has a "responsibility to give something back."

Security Benefit of Topeka, Kan. is offering three new mutual funds: the Security International Fund, the Security Enhanced Index Fund and the Security Select 25 Fund.

The Mutual Fund Education Alliance has expanded its website to educate investors about investing in mutual funds for retirement. Located at the alliance's Investor's Center web page (www.mfea.com), the new section is called Retirement Center.

Charles Schwab has consolidated its four programs aimed at high net-worth/active traders into a new service called Schwab Signature Services. Replacing Priority, Priority Gold, Schwab Select and Schwab 500 Brokerage, Signature now reduces Schwab's high net worth/active trading threshold from $500,000 or 24 trades a year, to $100,000 or 12 trades a year.

The Electronic Compliance Foundation (ECF) is drafting a no-action letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the SEC to permit investors to obtain more investment information on-line.

Aggressive campaigns to capture new investor retirement accounts, especially in Roth IRAs, appear to have produced strong results for mutual fund companies.

A new mutual fund is being created to help banks satisfy Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

In a twist on get rich games, Mandricks & Cool Articles Worldwide, Port Washington, N.Y. has introduced Mutual Fundz, a new board game.

Mutual fund directors, lawyers and academics will meet in Washington tomorrow and Wednesday to examine the state of mutual fund governance and consider possible changes.

Affiliated Managers Group of Boston, an asset management holding company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase The Managers Funds, the advisor to a $1.8 billion no-load fund family of ten funds. The Managers Funds will continue to operate from its offices in Norwalk, Conn. The acquisition is expected to close in the spring.

American Data Services of Hauppauge, N.Y., a shareholder services company, announced that it has started the Imperial Bank Fund, which will invest in the stocks of banking institutions and other financial services firms. The fund will be managed by David Allaire and Michael Laliberte of the Retirement Planning Company of Providence, R.I. The fund will be 65 percent invested in bank stocks and 35 percent in other financial firms like brokerages, lending institutions and insurance companies. It will carry a 4.75 percent front-end load and a 12b-1 fee of 0.5 percent. Minimum initial investment is $2,000, $500 for IRAs.

As Jan. 1, 2000 approaches, financial service company executives are finding that there really are two year 2000 problems.

A lawsuit filed this past July alleging securities fraud against Investment Adviser's, Inc. (IAI) of Minneapolis is continuing to twist its way through the legal system. In the meantime, the fund which is the target of the suit has revealed that approximately 65 percent of its portfolio is illiquid.

The role of independent directors of mutual funds has been the subject of considerable debate recently and is the topic of an SEC roundtable this week in Washington. (see box page 36.) MFMN free-lance reporter Lori Pizzani drew together several industry leaders to discuss aspects of the issue.

E*Trade has finally received SEC approval for its first mutual fund and has now started its own asset management business.

A Connecticut registered investment advisor is offering a product that sounds like an investor's dream come true - insurance for a mutual fund portfolio that guarantees that a living investor will not lose his initial investment.