Fund performance

Wirehouses are projected to lose $188 billion in client assets this year due to adviser migration, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. And those losses are expected to continue over the longer term as well.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida - Mutual fund boards are grappling with their increasingly expanding roles as risk overseers, management coaches and shareholder advocates as the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to add new rules and raise its expectations, including the creation last week of the Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation.

Given the number of tactical and absolute-return mutual funds hitting the market, it appears that some fund complexes are now giving their portfolio managers more leeway. The 17 individual traders who run ProfitScore Capital Management's multi-manager long/short unified hedge account accomplish this by actively trading mutual funds within their individual specialty. They primarily buy funds from Rydex, ProFunds and Direxion, including funds that permit intraday trades. Money Management Executive recently spoke with John McClure, CEO of ProfitScore, about this unusual approach.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida - With the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers finally in the rearview mirror and the economy on the way to recovery, many participants in the financial services industry are questioning whether the industry still needs to undergo substantial regulatory change, and what changes, if any, could be beneficial at this point.

With the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year in the past and the economy on the road to recovery, many participants in the financial services industry are questioning whether the industry still needs to undergo substantial regulatory change, and what changes, if any, could be beneficial at this point.

In the eight months since their launch in January, Putnam Investments' new family of absolute-return mutual funds has attracted more than $400 million in new investments and, according to the firm, is on track to top $1 billion by the end of the year.

We just published the results from kasina's 2009 Sales Compensation study. Compiling the data was a lengthy, arduous and enlightening process. As you would expect, data reveal that quantum changes have taken hold since our last Sales Comp study in 2007. More interesting to me than the data itself, though, is that only a minority of firms are making special and determined efforts to take care of their top salespeople.

Mutual fund advocates are rallying together in preparation for a key Supreme Court battle this fall that could drastically change the way fund companies structure their fees.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services has upgraded its open-end mutual fund research product for financial advisors and clients.

Total assets in money market mutual funds fell by $15.3 billion to $3.543 trillion during the week ending Sept. 9, largely driven by institutional accounts, the Investment Company Institute said.

With Sept. 15 marking the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the shocking revelation of Reserve Funds’ $785 million exposure to the debt, fund executives are taking a retrospective look at the historical run on money funds.

Due to a normal rate of redemptions in the Hartford MidCap Value Fund, The Hartford Mutual Funds is reopening the $476 million fund, which had been closed since 2004.

Morningstar is offering advisers in-depth research reports for 20 of the largest target-date mutual fund series, based on five components making up the “five P’s”: People, Parent, Performance, Portfolio and Price. A pared-down version is also available to individual investors.

Hedge funds returned 1.85% in August, beating only the Nasdaq’s 1.54% returns. The Dow rose 3.54% in the month, followed by the S&P 500’s 3.36% increase, according to Hennessee Group.

One of the biggest mysteries to emerge from the recession is why investors have stuck with their 401(k) in the face of a 55% market decline between October 2007 and March 2009.

Regulators are looking for ways to increase accounting safeguards for investment advisors who have custody of client assets, but an investment advisor's group says some of the proposed changes are too broad and go too far.

BlackRock made a big splash in the exchange-traded funds business this summer with its $13.5 billion purchase of the investment unit of Barclays Global Investors, and analysts and executives are waiting for the next shoe to drop.

When like-named target-date funds experienced a wide range of investment returns in 2008, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor took notice.

Selling Van Kampen at a time when most asset managers are still bruised from the market downturn is not a wise idea for Morgan Stanley, analysts tell The Wall Street Journal. Assets have fallen 32% to $86 billion in the 12 months ended June 30.

U.S. multi-manager assets fell by 24.2% to $403.5 billion last year, according to a report on global multi-manager products released by Cerulli Associates.