Investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the trustees, chief compliance officer and fund administrator of a pair of mutual fund trusts with causing untrue or misleading disclosures about the factors they considered when approving or renewing investment advisory contracts on behalf of shareholders.

There may be global institutions with no leaders. Or U.S-led institutions that are not global. But no global institutions with U.S. running the show any longer, said Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group.

Globally, exchange traded products are scooping up assets on a faster pace than in 2012, according to BlackRock’s April 2013 ETP Landscape Report.

Finding something, anything, or any combination of investments that can generate an annual return of 5% on assets is a challaenge, as baby boomers retire at the rate of 10,000 per day.

Invesco, owner of the Invesco, Van Kampen and PowerShares funds, said first-quarter profit rose 15 percent as record client deposits lifted assets.

Investors plunged back into bond funds with gusto for the week ended April 24, after two consecutive weeks of taking their foot off the petal, according to estimates from the Investment Company Institute.

“We are seeing good cyclical improvement,’’ Mary John Miller, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. told the general membership meeting of the Investment Company Institute in its policy forum Wednesday. “Now e need to tackle longer-term structural improvement.’’

Speakers and attendees alike had plenty to say about the merits of an active management approach to investor assets at the annual conference of he National Association of Active Investment Managers. The following are some of the smartest things overheard at the conference.

From athletes who abuse illegal substances in order to win to business executives who lie on financial statements to boost profitability, examples of cheating are all around.

“We are seeing good cyclical improvement,’’ Mary John Miller, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. told the general membership meeting of the Investment Company Institute in its policy forum Wednesday. “Now e need to tackle longer-term structural improvement.’’

David Silver, who served as president of the Investment Company Institute from 1977 to 1991, has died.

Investors plunged back into bond funds with gusto for the week ended April 24, after two consecutive weeks of taking their foot off the petal, according to estimates from the Investment Company Institute.

Contributions to be Defined

If the net asset value of a money market fund is forced to float, the ramifications on maintaining customer accounts are huge and could force them to move to other investments.

Sanford Bernstein, AllianceBerstein’s sell-side research arm, has a new head of sales. Rick Galiardo, joins the company in the role, which includes responsibility for the firm’s private label mutual fund sales.

Neuberger Berman has hired 22 emerging markets debt (EMD) investment professionals, 19 of whom have joined the firm from ING Investment Management, where they managed over US$16 billion in EMD assets.

Direxion has added two new leveraged inverse products to its repertoire. The Direxion Daily Brazil Bear 3x Shares (BRZS) seeks to capture 300% of the inverse performance of the MSCI Brazil 25/50 Index.

Invesco Ltd. (IVZ), owner of the Invesco, Van Kampen and PowerShares funds, said first-quarter profit rose 15 percent as record client deposits lifted assets.

Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN), manager of the Franklin and Templeton mutual funds, said fiscal second- quarter profit rose 14 percent as gains in global stock markets increased assets under management.

Vanguard said Monday that it cut the expense ratios on several of its bond mutual funds and ETFs in April. These include three of its popular bond ETFs: the Long-Term Bond Index Fund (BLV), the Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund (BIV) and the Short Term Bond Index Fund (BSV). Each fund saw its price tag change from 11 bps to 10 bps.