International funds

Dreyfus is planning to launch two funds-of-funds, the Dreyfus Diversified Global Fund and the Dreyfus Satellite Alpha Fund. The diversified global fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in six of Dreyfus’ other funds, including those tied to equity income, real estate, sustainability investments, worldwide growth, global alpha and global equities.

Equity funds were clobbered in the first quarter of 2009, declining 9.25%, Lipper reported last week. Performance would have been even worse, were it not for a surprise rally in March.

Private equity may not play a prominent role as it relates to buying up toxic assets, but sponsors are actively seeking the money-making operations of various banking institutions. The latest to dive into the fray was CVC Capital Partners, which acquired the iShares exchange-traded-funds business of Barclays Global Investors.

While most mutual fund companies struggled in 2008, John Hancock Funds finished the year in solid standing, buoyed by a strong first half and careful strategic planning. President and CEO Keith Hartstein recently spoke with Money Management Executive's John Morgan about the key areas that drove Hancock's record $8.5 billion in sales, some regulations he would like to see changed and his outlook for the rest of 2009 and beyond.

Assets in Barclays’ iShares ETFs in Asia ex-Japan rose by 43.7% in 2008 to $4.3 billion and globally, iShares took in $89 billion in new assets, up 27% from inflows of $70 billion in 2007.

Fund managers in emerging markets are increasingly paying attention to environmental, social and corporate governance factors, according to research by Mercer.

CVC Capital Partners of Britain is in exclusive talks with Barclays to purchase its iShares exchange-traded fund unit for more than $4 billion.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The United States is determined to show the world it is leading global economic recovery efforts, even if that means creating what some in the industry view as risky new risk regulators.

Congress is considering whether to make major revisions to the fair-value accounting rules that have created so much controversy lately. Possible changes include suspending the rules, improving value-at-risk measurements and reinstating the uptick rule.

Mutual fund companies are finding that it's not too early to start tagging fund data with the international extensible business reporting language (XBRL) code the Securities and Exchange Commission has required them to begin using in July, though companies may find it's easier to outsource the job.

Justin Leverenz, manager of the Oppenheimer Developing Markets fund, says emerging market economies are more agile than developed nations, and will likely soar out of the recession.

NEW YORK - The Securities and Exchange Commission has given U.S. companies more time to comment on its proposal to adopt international financial reporting standards (IFRS), but this extension may be creating uncertainty among those who thought the conversion was a done deal.

Bank of New York Mellon is expecting the China Securities Regulatory Commission to approve a mutual fund joint venture it wants to launch in the third quarter in partnership with Western Securities.

Infrastructure funds may have been building interest ever since President Barack Obama announced his commitment to rebuilding America's infrastructure, but the managers of the First American Global Infrastructure fund have been laying the groundwork for years.

Vanguard is entering the UK mutual fund business for the first time and has chosen Tom Rampulla, director of sales for Vanguard Advisor Services in the U.S. to head up the unit, since it will initially focus on selling through financial advisers.

Mutual fund prospectus provider NewRiver is suing Morningstar for using Internet espionage to steal information from its patent-protected system.

Despite a more than 40% decline in Chinese funds last year, Toronto-based Manulife Financial is determined to launch a mutual fund business in China before the end of the year.

Forward Management LLC is offering investors exposure to frontier markets with the launch of its new Accessor Frontier Markets Fund.

The events that occurred in the financial services industry over the past year were once thought inconceivable. At this point, regulators are chomping at the bit to reverse how Wall Street does business, and investors are downright spooked. The editors of SourceMedia's business publications offer their views on how these dramatic shifts on Wall Street and in corporate America will impact businesses and investors this year.

NEW YORK - The whole world will be in a recession throughout 2009, economists say, but it will be the U.S. and its strong dollar that lead the world to recovery sometime in 2010.