Mutual funds

GuaranteesMatter.com, a microsite from New York Life Insurance, is designed to offer consumers educational and planning materials to help them navigate the changing financial landscape, by showcasing guaranteed products.

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management unit has launched a new U.S. marketing campaign, “help2retire_____,” to illustrate individuals’ evolving retirement priorities and personal aspirations. Budgeted at $20 million, it launched Monday and is scheduled to run through the end of April on broadcast network and national cable TV, as well as print and online consumer and trade magazines, including sister publication Financial Planning.

Starting March 31, the WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend Fund will be renamed the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund and, while still providing the same equity exposure and using its dividend-weighting methodology, begin to hedge Japanese yen exposure against the U.S. dollar.

In helping the middle-class save for retirement, President Obama may have also given a boost to the annuities sector.

Blackstone Advisory Services Vice Chairman Byron R. Wien, who has made annual predictions for U.S. markets and the economy at the start of the year for the past quarter century, believes there will be a number of welcome surprises in 2010—not least of which will be GDP growth surpassing forecasts of 5%.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is considering a bill that would require mutual funds, pension plans and other large institutional investors to publicly reveal how they vote their proxies, to impose proper corporate governance on otherwise passive investors who, seemingly, don't vote in the fiduciary interest of their end investors.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that a 2007 e-mail that a Charles Schwab managing director wrote could prove to be a “mea culpa smoking gun” since the executive says Schwab should tell investors it misrepresented risks in the short-term bond fund.

Charles Schwab has begun offering investors six professionally managed portfolios that have access to 24 exchange-traded funds, each portfolio with an investment minimum of $100,000. The Schwab Managed Portfolios will invest in up to 19 core sub-asset classes and offer diversification across all the major equity and fixed income asset classes, including TIPs, real estate and commodities.

Sun Life Financial is readying a national marketing campaign to raise its profile, and to underscore the effort, has just signed a multi-year agreement with the Miami Dolphins to rename the team’s Miami Gardens, Fla., stadium the Sun Life Stadium.

Lord, Abbett has reduced the net expense ratios on two of its international funds by 31 and 23 basis points, bringing the Class A charges both the $949 million Lord, Abbett International Core Equity Fund and the $325 million Lord, Abbett International Dividend Fund to 1.12%. The two funds are now lower than the averages in both their Morningstar and Lipper peer groups.

In 2009, 425 mutual funds were either closed or merged out of existence, up nearly three-fold from the 145 funds that ceased to exist in 2008, according to Lipper.

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

Fidelity President Lawson To Step Down in March

As it waits for the fee income that will come once interest rates rise, Bank of New York Mellon will continue to try and control costs and focus on expanding its asset management and asset servicing businesses overseas, the firm said during an earnings call last Wednesday.

BOSTON -- After all these years, mutual fund companies still don't understand their distribution partners, sales executives say. But before fund executives try to improve on their current models, they need to realize that distribution channels are changing yet again as investment advisers seek lower-cost, laser-focused solutions.

BOSTON -- Mutual fund companies must stay on top of their compliance programs, particularly because Congress is likely to pass new financial regulations, executives warn.

Putnam Investments has launched a content-rich Roth IRA Conversion Resource Center aimed at financial advisors.