Investment funds

The House Education & Labor Committee has introduced the Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2009, which would require 401(k) plans to clearly state all fees with the aim of helping workers shop around for the best retirement options.

Seventy-five percent of employees at companies that have had layoffs, furloughs, suspended 401(k) matches or that have taken other cost-cutting measures, have faith their employer is taking the right action to strengthen the company, according to a Zoomerang survey for iDashboards.

More small private foundations are dissolving and moving their assets into low-cost, flexible donor-advised funds, sometimes called charitable funds, run by mutual fund companies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

JennisonDryden has reopened the Jennison Health Sciences Fund to new investors, having closed it in July 2005. JennisonDryden is the proprietary fund family of Prudential Financial.

President Obama and Congress are both committed to finding new energy sources, and as such, alternative energy and infrastructure will be dominant investment themes of 2010, according to Calvert Investments and KBC Asset Management International.

BlackRock’s first quarter earnings fell 24% to $84 million, or 62 cents per diluted common share. Operating income was $271 million and operating margin was 27.5%.

UBS is reportedly considering selling its hedge fund unit to management, according to a Swiss newspaper, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, and analysts believe the unit, which has $39 billion in assets under management, could fetch $1 billion.

Hedge fund investors redeemed $103 billion in the first quarter, with $85 billion of that coming out of hedge funds-of-funds, according to Hedge Fund Research, leaving remaining assets of about $1.3 trillion.

Americans are growing increasingly worried about having enough money for retirement, but that fear is turning to paralysis, as fewer investors make changes to stem future losses, a new study found.

Recognizing the need for asset management executives to receive timely insights from financial intermediaries on changing investor tastes, kasina and Hoursesmouth have launched Advisor Vision. Through surveys conducted among Horsesmouth’s 70,000 members, the service provides insight into advisers’ behaviors, preferences for working with asset managers and opinions on specific firms and investment choices.

Actively managed funds continued to drastically trail three Standard & Poor’s indexes over the past five years ended Dec. 31, 2008.

Suspending 401(k) matches for just one year can save most companies millions of dollars a year, but doing so can severely negatively impact participants' savings rates and long-term retirement outlook, and should be avoided, according to Hewitt Associates.

Putnam Names Donovan Chief Investment Officer

Fidelity May Cut Bonuses, Merit Pay as Profits Fall

The best way to get investors the lowest 401(k) fees possible is to automatically enroll as many of them as possible into big plans with high contribution rates, according to a study released last week on the economics of 401(k) and defined contribution retirement plans by Deloitte and the Investment Company Institute.

Whether driven by the demands of potential or existing investors, regulators or a new strategic direction, hedge fund and private equity firms are moving beyond their historically entrepreneurial outlooks to enhance their operational risk management, financial controls (SOX and SAS 70) and internal audit.

While mutual funds aren't technically required to start using the short-form, summary prospectus until 2011, companies that switch early could see significant savings in printing and mailing costs.

Legg Mason has just laid off 40 workers, most of whom worked in administrative support in Connecticut and New York. Five of the workers worked in Baltimore. None worked in investment management.

The number of Americans who believe they will live a comfortable retirement has fallen markedly to 41%, down from 59% who believed this in 2002, Gallup found in its annual economy and personal finance survey.

Hedge funds will reorganize following sharp declines last year and into 2009 to emerge stronger and top $2.6 trillion in assets by 2013, predicts The Bank of New York Mellon and Casey Quirk.