Mutual funds

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.

ShareBuilder 401(k), which serves small businesses with a lineup primarily of exchange-traded funds, is offering pricing discounts for plans as they reach savings milestones of $1 million, $2 million and $5 million. For those businesses with plan assets of $5 million or more, the company doesn’t charge any administration fee and reduces asset management fees to less than 50 basis points.

AllianceBernstein has pledged up to $500,000 to aid victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

The leading mutual fund brand in the nation is Vanguard and the leading distributor is Charles Schwab, 4,000 affluent and high-net-worth investors told Cogent Research in a recent survey. In both categories, Fidelity, which had previously held first place since Cogent started the research in 2006, was knocked to second.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. has enhanced its mutual fund services to include 529 college savings plan information in a streamlined manner for broker/dealers and other financial distributors. New functionality has been added to the transactional hub Fund/SERVE and to network account reconciliation.

Rodger A. Lawson, 63, president of Fidelity Investments since 2007, will step down in March. The fund giant will likely select one or possibly three successors from its executive committee, Lawson announced in a briefing Wednesday.

Jefferies on Wednesday launched the TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Wildcatters Energy E&P Equity Index and trades on NYSE Arca.

Fitch Ratings has revised its ratings on seven money market funds to its highest score, following the launch of its new rating criteria and rating scale.

Financial institutions will increase information technology spending 2.9% in 2010, after cutting budgets by 2.5% in 2009, according to research and consulting firm Celent.

The mutual fund industry is taking issue with a House bill that would permit the Federal Reserve to step in to regulate large funds that pose “a grave threat to the financial stability or economy of the U.S.”

American consumer confidence rose sharply earlier this month to the highest level it has been at since September 2008, according to the RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index. In fact, the index was boosted by the largest single month gain in job expectations since the index was created eight years ago.