Mutual funds

Actively managed ETFs are surging in Canada, expanding a market already dominated by iShares and posing a challenge to the mutual-fund industry that has among the highest management fees in the world.

Industry giants BlackRock and State Street are rolling out hedged ETFs at an unprecedented clip after smaller rivals lured the bulk of $41 billion of inflows this year.

Rule-making at the SEC went from looking at information to be viewed by potential and current investors to collecting large chunks of data to be loaded in some future database and processed by analytics software.

Manulife Asset Management is expanding globally, and its president and CEO, Kai Sotorp, says that the $300+ billion global asset manager isn't doing it for the adventure. "We're just simply responding to that growth," he tells Money Management Executive.

Asset manager growth came largely from rising global asset values. At the same time, a continued shift into lower-cost products, such ETFs, pinched net revenue growth, while net new assets trickled in.

At 71, Bill Gross feels the weight of time. He figures he has a few good years left to prove the new Bill Gross is every bit as good as the old one. Maybe even better.

Not only are 403(b) retirement plans diversified, but the average cost of offering them decreased slightly from 2009 to 2012.

As the popularity of index investing soars to new heights, the emergence of index front-running is raising fundamental questions about so-called passive investment strategies, as well as how indexes are compiled and the role the funds themselves play in elevating costs.

The brokerage firms failed to waive mutual fund sales charges for certain charitable and retirement accounts, FINRA says.

Even as ETFs further their penetration into markets across the globe, many market experts say the funds will evolve and mature in the upcoming months, as advisors look to alleviate client concerns.