Mutual funds

WASHINGTON—Although some of the “most profound” proposals in regulatory reform made during the wake of the economic collapse are now not likely to happen, Richard Ketchum, chairman and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Thursday that the financial services industry still has a responsibility to act aggressively at detecting fraud before it’s cleaning up the mess at the end.

The Department of Labor announced that beginning in August, it will require asset management firms to provide further information on the risks and benefits of investing in target-date funds, including details on their glidepaths, to employers and employees.

Seven of 10 employed individuals have given up on the idea of retirement, according to the 2010 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey.

Fidelity Investments has hired William J. Henderson as chief executive officer of Fidelity Clearing Canada., reporting to National Financial President Sanjiv Mirchandani.

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department released interim guidance yesterday instructing municipal issuers how to issue four tax-credit bonds as direct-subsidy bonds, as was authorized by a jobs law enacted in March.

Armed with its first full period of earnings since buying Barclays Global Investors, BlackRock announced its profits quintupled in the first quarter.

As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reached out to Republicans to get them on board with financial reforms, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who won the seat vacated by former Sen. Edward Kennedy, vociferously defended the mutual fund industry.

Wherever the money’s going, it’s not going to municipal bond mutual funds.

NEW YORK—Dividend-paying stocks may be the best option for investors looking for income, said Jason Brady, managing director and portfolio manager of Thornburg’s limited-term income and U.S. government strategies funds, speaking at the annual spring forum of the Financial Planning Association’s New York chapter last week.

Although financial advisers expect 2010 to be a great year, wirehouses are still feeling the turbulence, and concerns about breakaway brokers, although waning, remain, according to Aite Group.

A few months after its acquisition by Intuit, Mint.com has linked up with Intuit Financial Services’ aggregation capabilities, a move that should add millions of potential users to Mint.com’s roster, which currently totals one million people.

AIG May Sue Goldman

Following a disastrous first quarter a year ago, T. Rowe Price Group Inc. announced Friday that its quarterly profits more than tripled.

The civil suit filed against Goldman Sachs by the Securities & Exchange Commission alleging securities fraud could strengthen the argument to establish a universal fiduciary standard, according to legal experts.

The Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a questionnaire to primary dealers asking them how the SEC’s new money market fund rules, which take effect on May 5, could impact demand for Treasuries and the broader Treasury repo and cash market functioning. Treasury is seeking the information ahead of a meeting with the dealers on April 30.

NEW YORK—The financial services industry might want to take a cue from Domino’s Pizza before declaring “mission accomplished” on the economic crisis.

With stock gains in the triple-digit, where can an investor turn for the next big thing?

Dodd calls for study on performance information in advertisements.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chistopher Dodd (D-Conn.)’s financial overhaul bill takes issue with performance information in mutual fund advertisements and asks for a review of the practice by the comptroller general.

The Denver-based investment management saw profits and assets under management increase as trading continued to recover from the depths of the recession a year earlier.