Mutual funds

Last year, global asset managers experienced their highest operating margins since 2007, according to a new survey by consultant Casey Quirk and research shop McLagan.

It’s not all good news on Wall Street these days.

Assets of all exchange-traded funds rose in May by $12.14 billion to $1.481 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute. Over the past 12 months, ETF assets rose $365.27 billion, or 32.7%.

During the week ended June 19, investors yanked an estimated $7.97 billion from taxable and municipal bond funds.

Mutual funds gave back $5.43 billion for the week ended Wednesday, June 19, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Broadridge Financial Solutions has agreed to acquire Bonaire Software Solutions, a provider of fee calculation, billing, and revenue and expense management solutions for asset managers including institutional asset managers, wealth managers, mutual funds, bank trusts, hedge funds and capital markets firms.

The Hartford Funds has named Brian Garrette and Michael Tobin divisional sales managers, overseeing the mutual fund company's south and west regions, respectively.

Janus Capital Group has appointment Jeff Pawliger as regional director with Janus' Advisor Solutions Group to spearhead the growth of Janus' intermediary distribution and sales in Southern Florida.

Direxion has launched two leveraged exchange-traded funds that track Japanese equity market performance.

Little Silver, NJ-based WBI Investments has added two mutual funds to its lineup: the WBI Absolute Return Balanced Plus Fund (WBPNX, WBBPX) and the WBI Absolute Return Dividend Income Fund (WBDNX, WBDIX), bringing the fund family to four funds.

BMO Financial Group is branching out its institutional asset management business in Melbourne, Australia, operating as BMO Global Asset Management. The new office will focus on institutional sales.

The RiverPark/Wedgewood Fund (RWGFX, RWGIX), a focused large cap, open-end growth reached a milestone this week in hitting the $1 billion in assets under management mark.

Artisan Partners has launched a new active equity fund, Artisan Global Small Cap Fund (ARTWX), which will bet on small-cap stocks without regional contraints.

Thirty eight percent of fund firms across the country said that they will increase technology-related costs while a total of 17% of respondents said they expected no change in whether their firm's technology costs would rise or decline for the rest of this year.

Advisors needs and wants are moving targets and mutual fund wholesalers must constantly adjust to if they want to hit the bullseye.

Advisors needs and wants are moving targets and mutual fund wholesalers must constantly adjust to if they want to hit the bullseye.

Mercer has made three senior-level appointments to its global investments and retirement units in Europe and in the emerging markets.

AdvisorShares is prepping another active exchange-traded fund to add to its roster.

Exchange-traded fund investors pumped in some $84 billion of assets into equity ETFs while fixed income funds brought in $30 billion through May 31, according to data from State Street Global Investors.

Advisors and institutions are turning to mutual funds as their choice du jour to access alternative strategies, according to new findings by Morningstar.