Mutual funds

The pullout from domestic stock funds continued last week, to the tune of $3.7 billion. But bond funds got another big influx.

The pullout from domestic stock funds continued last week, to the tune of $3.7 billion. But bond funds got another big influx.

Keith Bernard, former Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, at Pax World Management, has left the firm, Money Management Executive has learned.

Edward P. Owens, whose $22.4 billion Vanguard Health Care Fund has outperformed every U.S. equity mutual fund since it was created in 1984, will retire at the end of the year.

A long-time Vanguard portfolio manager is calling it quits after some 38 years in the business.

Neuberger Berman Group has appointed Brendan Gill as a senior vice president and head of national accounts in the firm’s Advisor Solutions Group, effective Aug. 30.

Chicago-based Thomas White Funds has launched three new classes of shares for two of its no-load, foreign equity funds—its flagship Thomas White International Fund (TWWDX) and the Thomas White Emerging Markets Fund (TWEMX).

In a nod to the competitive pricing pressure roiling the financial services industry, Advisor Group, one of the largest independent broker-dealer networks in the nation, has eliminated, or drastically reduced, the mutual fund fees it was charging to clients of its financial advisors.

After more than a year of battling it out in Washington, D.C., and around the country, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro called off her proposed second round of reform for money market mutual funds.

As investing in alternatives such as real estate, private equity funds, hedge fund strategies and commodities grow in popularity, the way these are being used by institutions and investment advisors is changing.

Multi-manager shop Virtus Investment Partners has added Rampart Investment Management, which specializes in customized options strategies for institutional and high-net-worth clients, as a wholly owned affiliate of Virtus.

The Hartford today is taking another step towards focusing on its mutual fund business by agreeing to sell its retirement plans business to rival Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) for a cash ceding commission of $400 million.

Eaton Vance Management has launched four new Eaton Vance-sponsored mutual funds sub-advised by Hexavest Inc., a Montreal-based investment manager in which Eaton Vance recently acquired a 49% ownership interest.

Does religion play a key part in the way investors and managers place bets on their mutual funds?

Boston Trust Investment Management has selected BHIL Distributors, Inc., the affiliated broker-dealer of Beacon Hill Fund Services, to provide principal underwriter and distribution services to The Boston Trust & Walden Funds.

William "Bill" Scriba, a former T. Rowe Price treasurer and vice president, died on Aug. 28 at his residence in an assisted-living community in Sunnyvale, Calif., of undetermined causes, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Who would've thunk it?

Vincent Leon has joined 3D Asset Management as a National Sales Manager, responsible for overseeing the firm’s sales and marketing efforts to the wirehouse, RIA, retirement/DCIO and sub-advisory channels.

The ASTON/River Road Independent Value Fund is reopening to new investors starting Sept. 4.

European sovereign debt concerns and the U.S. debt-ceiling debacle spurred market volatility, pushing investors toward index-based equity funds.