Investment strategies

The addition of non-managed assets to a unified managed account could be the next step in the product's evolution, but some industry providers are skeptical whether the interest in stock-picking right now is enough for this enhancement to take off.

In 2007, Philip Moses, a Raymond James adviser at First Federal Bank of Florida in Lake City, had a local physician as a client who wanted to diversify his $1.5 million portfolio.

As exchange-traded funds continue to grow in scope and popularity, investment experts warn that some products, such as leveraged and inverse ETFs, may be too dangerous for all but the most experienced hands.

NEW YORK - Regulatory officials are pondering significant changes to the way the U.S. oversees financial markets in the wake of last year's credit crisis and the failure to prevent Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, but lawmakers will have to make some hard choices before any real changes can happen.

Regulators are looking for ways to increase accounting safeguards for investment advisors who have custody of client assets, but an investment advisor's group says some of the proposed changes are too broad and go too far.

When like-named target-date funds experienced a wide range of investment returns in 2008, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor took notice.

MetLife's Broker-Dealer Group has introduced MetLife Fund Management Services, an investment advisory solution targeted at emerging investors.

A former UBS banker who cooperated with the U.S. investigation of the Swiss bank was sentenced to over three years in jail for helping a billionaire real estate developer evade $7.2 million in taxes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission needs to undertake a “comprehensive, independent, zero-based regulatory review” of a broad range of market structure issues before “piecemeal changes to the current market structure” exacerbate potential execution unfairness and make matters worse, says U.S. Sen. Edward E. Kaufman (D-Del.).

PMC, the investment management arm of Envestnet, announced the launch of a new tax overlay service Thursday that will allow advisers to minimize tax liabilities on their clients’ portfolios.

Investor confidence among affluent investors increased in July, according to monthly data released by Spectrem Group.

The recent drop in financial markets has rekindled the demand for safer, conservative financial products like stable-value funds.

Sometimes we seek out opportunities for change. Other times change is thrust upon us. Market conditions in the past 24 months have produced seismic shifts in the mutual fund industry, and several business drivers have emerged that will shape our industry's future. As asset managers, distributors, suppliers and others evaluate their next steps, these demands will drive strategies and shape new solutions.

The U.S. should adopt a Systemic Risk Council made up of top financial regulators, according to Investment Company Institute President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens, during testimony July 23 before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

NEW YORK -- An investors' advocacy group is challenging the Obama Administration and Congress to do more for the needs of average investors.

New enhancements to Envestnet’s unified managed account (UMA), such as product expansion, systematic income withdrawals and adviser-created asset allocations, will allow advisers to customize client accounts ranging from $150,000 to multi-millions on a single platform.

Tocqueville Asset Management will acquire Delafield Asset Management, a provider of mutual funds, separately managed accounts and limited partnerships. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Lori Richards is stepping down as head of the office of compliance inspections and examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, a role she held since its creation in 1995. She joined the SEC in 1985. Upon her departure on Aug. 7, Associate Director and Chief Counsel John Walsh will take her place.

It could take as long as five years for asset managers around the world to recoup the $10 trillion they lost in 2008, according to a report by Cerulli, which calls the global meltdown “of near-biblical proportions.”

Registered investment advisors reported a rise in new clients, according to a survey released Monday by TD Ameritrade Institutional, a unit of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.