Investment funds

Grail Partners’ chairman likens the future role of ETFs to the advent of personal computers.

Ultra-wealthy investors, with their $25 million in household net worth, might be a tempting lure for advisors who want their business. But any professional money manager who wants them as clients has to sharpen his or her knowledge about alternative investments.

A couple of interesting surveys were released this week—and when mixed with some anecdotal evidence, they offer advisors some food for thought.

Kip Meadows, the CEO of Nottingham Investment Administration, talks about some of the trends expected for the fund industry.

E Fund Management, the second-largest asset management company in China, is planning to offer the nation’s first registered hedge fund. Along with a long-only mutual fund, the two will invest in emerging markets securities. They will be run out of E Fund’s Hong Kong office.

Investors are displaying renewed faith in mutual funds, Strategic Insight says.

New money flowing into foreign equity funds offsets withdrawals from those that invest in U.S. stocks.

BlackRock has launched the iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund, completing its suite of BRIC single-country funds.

According to Janus, the ending point of glidepath is just one of several mysteries surrounding target-date funds.

As markets continue to be volatile, Putnam believes investors will be more focused on reducing risk and earning returns that beat inflation.

So it almost looked like the six-month-long nightmare in funds flowing out of mutual funds that invest in U.S. stocks, long-term, was ending.

Money market funds continue to waive big chunks of their management fees as yields on cash instruments remain too low to charge the full amount.

According to BlackRock, if broker-dealers end up losing money on those fees, they will eventually compensate by serving clients on advisory programs called wrap accounts.

Hedge fund compensation increased again in 2010, although by less than it did in 2009, and industry payouts are still below the peaks reached in 2007, according to analysis by Glocap Search LLC and Hedge Fund Research.

The Hedge Fund Association said it is adamantly opposed to the establishment of a self-regulatory organization for hedge funds, which the Government Accountability Office is currently investigating under the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

To further round out its index fund and ETF offerings across multiple asset classes, Vanguard has introduced the Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund, which will also have an exchange-traded fund share class.

Dupree Funds is launching a taxable municipal bond fund this week, just the second effort at creating a mutual fund devoted to Build America Bonds.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Gold Explorers ETF, which it says is the first exchange-traded fund to invest in gold exploration companies.

Bond funds attract $5.31 billion of new money in the week.

Aston Asset Management, in partnership with Crosswind Investments as sub-advisor, has launched the Aston/Crosswind Small Cap Growth Fund.