Investments

A push by institutional investors toward cash helped the total amount of money market mutual funds climb by $1.62 billion to reach $3.579 trillion for the week ending Aug. 27, the Investment Company Institute said.

Billions of dollars continued to flow into municipal bond mutual funds, gaining $1.5 billion for the week ending Aug. 26, according to Lipper FMI.

Bank sales of fixed annuities reached $8.7 billion in the second quarter, according to Beacon Research in Chicago, a drop in sales from $10.9 billion in the first quarter.

The market decline has hit RBC’s wealth management business, which reported a 10% decline in net income to U.S. $288 million in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. The firm said it was largely due to market conditions leading to lower fee-based revenue.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has lost its AAA rating by Standard & Poor's, due to the value decline in its asset management units.

After a rough 2008 in which almost 1,500 portfolios closed, hedge funds and bank trading desks are hiring again, and the top managers are being snatched up quickly, Reuters reports.

Aviva Investors has launched a UK-focused, retail absolute return fund.

UMB Financial Corporation has discontinued the use of Moody's Investors Service for rating both its UMBFC and UMB Bank n.a.

After a series of high-profile losses in its money market fund sector, the Association of British Insurers has created the Deposit and Treasury sector, which will provide tighter controls on permitted investments.

Confidence among affluent investors grew in the second quarter, according to the TNS Investor Confidence Index.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro has named James L. Kroeker as the chief accountant in the SEC's Office of Chief Accountant.

Northern Trust Global Investments has been named the Investment Management Firm of the Year at ACQ Finance Magazine's third-annual awards ceremony.

JPMorgan Asset Management has named former Fortis Investment manager Pierre-Yves Bareau to lead its emerging markets debt unit, following last week's departure of two long-time emerging market bond managers at JPMorgan.

Hedge funds may have to change tactics, notably by cutting their leverage, and adapt to regulations that likely will restrict their investment strategies, according to a recent report about the $2 trillion alternative asset management industry published by Standard & Poor’s.

Broadridge Financial Solutions and DeltaConcept, a global provider of portfolio management solutions, have aligned to launch a Switzerland-based platform that provides front-to-back integrated solutions for private banks and asset managers.

Advanced Group Investments, a provider of global investment strategies in real estate, commodities, stocks and bonds, has launched a new social networking site for investors called AGI Club.

John Hancock Funds has launched the Technical Opportunities Fund, a diversified stock fund that is structured to allow the subadviser, Wellington Management, to invest up to 100% of the portfolio in cash if necessary. The fund is intended to provide a specialty strategy for retail portfolios.

Global investment management firm PIMCO has launched the PIMCO 1-5 Year U.S. TIPS Index Fund, a combination of three Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities exchanged-traded funds designed to focus on the short maturity segment of the TIPS market.

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

Edward Jones has adopted Delta Data's FUNDViews service to manage and maintain operational rule changes within its mutual fund security master tables in its brokerage platform.