Investment products

Pending hedge fund regulations in the European Union are “protectionist [and] discriminate against U.S. firms and activities,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

IndexIQ is the latest provider to join in on the trend, offering Canadian and Australian small-cap ETFs, the first two in a series of such single-country funds.

Data integrity is the No. 1 concern for the 86% of the 130 C-suite fund executives from North America and Europe that Confluence surveyed, and 89% said consolidating fund administration data into a common database is critical.

A new company is promising to shake up the way Americans invest by providing individuals with direct access to institutionally priced mutual funds and other investments.

HSBC has launched the World Selection Funds, sub-advised funds managed by a wide range of respected investment mangers and that employ tactical asset management to invest in multiple asset classes, including domestic and international equity, bonds, commodities, property and private equity.

ProFunds Group has just unveiled three ETFs with single-inverse exposure to China, U.S. real estate and U.S. basic materials.

Wall Street is abuzz over whether the FDIC will encourage pension funds to invest in failed banks.

How will health care reform affect your clients? Where does the buy-and-hold argument stand? Are Americans doing something about their debt? What concerns about the economy still exist? Today, commentary from JPMorgan, Raymond James, Research Affiliates, T. Rowe Price and Gluskin Sheff makes sense of the economy’s current state.

Instead of gaining from the lessons that behavioral finance has to offer, much of the industry has treated it as a parlor game.

But the organization remains strongly opposed to doing away with a steady net asset value, which is usually $1.00 per share, and is a fundamental feature of money market funds.

T. Rowe Price is looking to buy a stake worth $1 billion or more. T. Rowe Price, China asset management, James A.C. Kennedy

But uncertainty still reigns.

After the housing market crash, people are undervaluing the importance of home equity in their retirement savings.

The American investor is just as confused about this economic recovery as advisors are, according to data from Morningstar.

After one 2030 target-date fund lost 41% in 2008, legislators in Washington went up in arms against the fund category. One of the most controversial proposals would have limited equity exposure in such funds, but the industry fought back on the grounds the 40 Act gives asset managers leeway to determine asset allocation on their own.

Deutsche Bank survey: Investors are ready to put money back in alternative asset management firms

MetLife believes that the once-ignored “emerging investor” is becoming critical to advisor business as firms try to figure out how to retain and recruit new clients.

Financial services firms have yet to create a strong retirement income plan, Cogent finds.

Charles Schwab Corp. has partnered with Pacific Investment Management Co. to offer wealthy clients in or approaching retirement a managed municipal bond laddering product.

In an effort to sell more products through financial advisers, Fidelity Investments announced Monday that it plans to reorganize hundreds of its employees.