Investment funds

The Orbitex Group of Funds of New York last week introduced the Orbitex Life Sciences & Biotechnology Fund. Orbitex' first interval fund will invest in small- to mid-sized companies in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical research and biotechnology research, development and implementation, the company said.

MaxFunds.com of Ann Arbor, Mich., a website that tracks small and new mutual funds, has launched 12 portfolios of securities that will be managed by investment professionals whose investment decisions will be available to consumers for a $2 monthly fee, said Jim Atkinson, president of MaxFunds.com.

Of the ten new streetTRACKS exchange-traded funds introduced this month, one in particular has caught the fund industry's attention for its ground-breaking nature.

Online banking will soon no longer be the only means of paying bills over the Internet. At least two mutual fund companies are now building the capabilities to allow investors to pay bills online from their money market fund accounts.

Fidelity Investments of Boston and American Century of Kansas City, Mo. both announced last week that in light of the Electronic Signatures Act taking effect on Oct. 1, they would accept new applications online, without handwritten signatures of any kind. Neither firm is requiring signatures, either at the time of an account opening or later, on hard copies via fax or the mail.

Mutual fund firms are considering offering hedge funds and related products in order to prevent portfolio managers from leaving to work for existing hedge funds, said industry executives.

NEW YORK - While exchange-traded funds are expected to grow rapidly in the near future, their growth will be hampered by numerous obstacles.

MetaMarkets.Com of San Francisco filed with the SEC Sept. 8 for a new fund that will invest in IPO's and new companies involved in developing products the company believes will lead to technological, social and economic change, according to the SEC filing.

Exchange-traded funds could turn out to be "the most significant new product category" of the decade, according to Financial Research Corp. of Boston. They will "continue their recent dramatic growth rate for many years to come," according to a recent FRC report. Any fund complex that wants to appeal to a broad investor base should probably add the products to its offerings, the report said.

Exchange-traded funds are not the only exotic new product shaking up the mutual fund industry. A new breed of customized, web-based baskets of stocks has recently come to market.

California Federal of San Francisco has just joined the growing number of banks offering checking accounts with a "sweep" function that invests excess money in money market mutual funds.

In response to the increasing popularity of exchange-traded-funds, two firms are about to introduce two variations of the product.

Separately-managed account assets grew four percent during the second quarter, according to Cerulli Associates of Boston.

Following its acquisition of U.S. Trust of New York this past June, Charles Schwab & Co. of San Francisco will offer an $800 million private equity fund for wealthy investors this fall, a Schwab spokesperson said.

SEI Investments of Oaks, Pa. will introduce after-tax performance reporting for all SEI investor accounts in the fourth quarter of this year.

Calvert Group of Bethesda, Md. filed with the SEC Aug. 4 to offer the Calvert Social Investment Fund Technology Portfolio.

NEW YORK - The American Stock Exchange is close to filing a patent for an actively-managed exchange-traded fund, but the structure of such a fund is still a mystery, said Debbie Fuhr, a vice president with Morgan Stanley & Co. International of London, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter of New York.

Global Asset Management of Hamilton, Bermuda is planning to file with the SEC to introduce three new closed-end funds in October that will invest in hedge funds, said David Anderson, managing director of Global Asset Management.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company of Bloomington, Minn. has filed with the SEC to offer ten mutual funds to the public.

Two of the first exchange-traded funds based on pan-European indices were launched last week by Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco, said Kerry Steele, a company spokesperson.