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Bonus units on deferred load funds, launched this month by discount brokerages, have opened up a new front in price competition. Since the introduction of the first deferred load funds in Canada in 1987, all types of intermediaries -- whether full service advisors or discounters -- have collected exactly the same amount of commission paid directly to them by the fund companies.

The SEC has fined three independent fund directors for their alleged conduct in supervising a money market fund whose net asset value (NAV) dropped below $1.00 per share in 1994.

Alpine Management & Research of New York has started the Alpine Realty Income and Growth Fund, its third focused real estate mutual fund.

A US Supreme Court action last week is expected to contribute to an increase in the number of patents financial services firms seek.

The shareholder who is suing Fidelity Investments, contending that the mutual fund industry has not passed along to investors the reduced costs which economies of scale bring, owns funds whose expenses have decreased as a percentage of assets, Fidelity says.

When the Value Trends Funds began selling its new mutual fund the first week of January, fund officials claimed it was the first no-load mutual fund to invest in the golf industry.

In its continuing effort to compel the securities industry to be ready technologically for the turn of the century, the SEC last week said it filed charges against nine transfer agents for allegedly failing to report their Y2K preparedness on new SEC forms.

A new mutual fund plans to combine two previously independent investing strategies- momentum investing and sector funds.

NASD Regulation (NASDR) has dropped plans which would have required some firms to provide more warnings when selling mutual funds, a proposal which the mutual fund industry had opposed.

Fidelity Investments has started the Growth & Income II Portfolio, a new retail fund with similar investment policies to those of Fidelity Growth & Income, which was closed to new investors on April 3, 1998.

Federated Investors has opened the Federated Global Equity Income Fund (FGEIF), one of three of the firm's global funds. It seeks capital appreciation and income by investing in stocks of dividend-producing companies in the U.S. and abroad.

Funds Distributor Incorporated (FDI) of Boston announced it has expanded its business relationship with Dresdner RCM Global Investors, a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, one of the world's largest financial organizations.

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) of Washington, D.C. has introduced a continuously updated REIT index. Steven A. Wechsler, president and ceo of NAREIT, said the new index allows investors to better gauge industry performance and compare returns of individual REITs against the industry as a whole. NAREIT's index is the only REIT index to include all 211 REITs currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the AMEX, Wechsler says.

Warburg Pincus Funds announced that it is launching a new no-load mutual fund called Warburg Pincus European Equity Fund, which will be managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM).

A coalition of Midwestern Catholic organizations called the Catholic Fraternal Alliance is creating a new family of mutual funds that will be offered through a powerful distribution network.

Mutual fund companies are increasingly using federal patent and trademark law to help brand and protect their products and services.

Frederick R. Kobrick is hoping that a name change for his one-year-old growth oriented fund group will eliminate a potential drag on its success.

Mutual fund companies, which already offer check writing and money market funds that act a lot like savings accounts, are about to compete even more directly with banks to capture assets.

The first no-load golf mutual fund teed off on January 4.

The SEC late last month sanctioned the Colorado investment advisory firm which sponsors the ICON Funds for using "inflated" figures in describing the firm's private account performance.