International funds

If global markets recover, investors may want to consider the greater growth opportunities that emerging market funds can offer over their domestic peers, particularly as growth is projected to be strong in developing countries, while the U.S. and other established nations struggle under mounds of debt.

When the Roman Empire was first expanding, regulators noticed an annoying problem: Due to increasing traffic, chariots were leaving grooves in the stone roads, but the gauge - the distance between the wheels - varied according to region. Different sized chariots didn't fit in the grooves. Julius Caesar had a solution: international standardization.

Fidelity Investments opened Fidelity Clearing Canada in Toronto Thursday, revealing plans to expand its base of broker/dealers. The business will provide clearing, custody and back-office services to both Canadian-based brokerage firms and the Canadian arms of brokerage firms based in the United States, that already clear through National Financial, Fidelity’s U.S.-based clearing branch.

Putnam Investments has launched a suite of nine international sector funds that will invest in stocks in the MSCI World Index. The nine funds are: the Putnam Global Consumer Fund, Putnam Global Natural Resources Fund, Putnam Global Energy Fund, Putnam Global Technology Fund, Putnam Global Financials Fund, Putnam Global Utilities Fund, Putnam Global Health Care Fund, Putnam Global Telecommunications Fund and Putnam Global Industrials Fund.

Paul Myners, the U.K.’s financial services minister, told the nation’s hedge fund industry to stop opposing transparency reforms that the European Union has proposed through the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive.

The mutual fund industry is known for churning out “hot-dot” funds that follow the latest investment craze, but as The Wall Street Journal notes in a recent column, it’s hard to believe but there are fewer than 10 small-cap emerging markets funds available.

The market decline has hit RBC’s wealth management business, which reported a 10% decline in net income to U.S. $288 million in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. The firm said it was largely due to market conditions leading to lower fee-based revenue.

Aviva Investors has launched a UK-focused, retail absolute return fund.

After a series of high-profile losses in its money market fund sector, the Association of British Insurers has created the Deposit and Treasury sector, which will provide tighter controls on permitted investments.

Northern Trust Global Investments has been named the Investment Management Firm of the Year at ACQ Finance Magazine's third-annual awards ceremony.

Broadridge Financial Solutions and DeltaConcept, a global provider of portfolio management solutions, have aligned to launch a Switzerland-based platform that provides front-to-back integrated solutions for private banks and asset managers.

A former UBS banker who cooperated with the U.S. investigation of the Swiss bank was sentenced to over three years in jail for helping a billionaire real estate developer evade $7.2 million in taxes.

Lincoln Financial Holdings has announced a deal to sell Delaware Management Holdings—which includes subsidiary Delaware Investments—to Macquarie Group.

Asia-focused hedge funds are increasingly setting up shop in China, rather than London, New York or Tokyo, and shifting more of their attention to the mainland than to the Pac Rim, Hedge Fund Research indicated in a report.

The nascent mutual fund industry in India is poised for tremendous growth averaging 29% a year over the next five years, Celent predicts. Driving the growth will be low retail penetration, high household savings rate and increasing interest among foreign asset managers to serve the market.

As the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank respectively predict world GDP growth of 2.5% and 2% next year and stock markets around the globe are expected to surge ahead of this growth, mutual fund analysts are beginning to weigh in on which sectors could lead the way out of the recession.

The Alternative Investment Management Association is siding with the U.K. on more lenient rules for hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments, warning that the proposed regulations in the Alternative Investment Funds Directive “would hit fund managers and investors around the world” by making it difficult for them to access the European Union market.

The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation released a report by Harvard Law School Professor John C. Coates recommending that mutual fund investors who hold less than 2% of a fund’s shares not be taxed on capital gains until they sell those shares. The current tax scheme puts U.S. funds at a competitive disadvantage, Coates says.

Nomura will acquire a 35% stake in LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Co., a subsidiary of Life Insurance Corporation of India.

iShares has introduced the iShares S&P Emerging Markets Infrastructure Index Fund. The timing is auspicious, as in May, emerging market ETFs attracted $6 billion, 40% of the $14.9 billion that investors placed in ETFs. And the trading volume of iShares emerging markets funds has increased 119% this year.