Mutual funds

While most mutual fund companies struggled in 2008, John Hancock Funds finished the year in solid standing, buoyed by a strong first half and careful strategic planning. President and CEO Keith Hartstein recently spoke with Money Management Executive's John Morgan about the key areas that drove Hancock's record $8.5 billion in sales, some regulations he would like to see changed and his outlook for the rest of 2009 and beyond.

By voting in favor of management proposals for large executive pay packages rather than shareholder proposals for pay tied to performance, fund companies are contributing to excessive pay, three groups charge.

Rather than focus on individual fund performance or investors’ malaise in its new advertisements, Fidelity is focusing on providing sound guidance and building on its trusted brand. And that is the focus of the “Guide to Personal Savings” campaign, taglined “Turn Here,” Fidelity Chief Marketing Officer James D. Speros told The Boston Globe.

High-yield bond funds lost an average of 26% in 2008, but the range of the performance was astounding, Andrew “Buddy” Donohue, director of the SEC division of investment management noted in a speech Thursday before the Practising Law Institute—ranging a full 85 percentage points between 7% for the best-performing fund to negative 78% for the worst-performing. And ranges proved to be incredibly wide for all asset classes, with 70% of actively managed funds underperforming their benchmarks in 2008, Donohue noted.

Eaton Vance Distributors has launched the Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Bond Strategies Fund, succeeding a similar private investment fund that was formed in 1991.

American Century Investment Management and Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company won "Best Fund Group Overall" honors in the large and small fund company categories, respectively, at the U.S. Lipper Fund Awards 2009 ceremony held Thursday evening in New York.

Investors started moving cash off the sidelines and back into equities, as witnessed by a $22.15 billion drop to $3.834 trillion in total money market mutual fund assets for the week ending April 1, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Assets in Barclays’ iShares ETFs in Asia ex-Japan rose by 43.7% in 2008 to $4.3 billion and globally, iShares took in $89 billion in new assets, up 27% from inflows of $70 billion in 2007.

Without divulging the figure, AARP said “many” Americans it surveyed are still committed to saving and investing for retirement. Most respondents said that they believe the current market turmoil has slowed their retirement progress, but will not halt it.

OppenheimerFunds has announced that it is making changes intended to strengthen its business operations and enhance risk management capabilities.

Consultants to 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans are carefully analyzing, and in some cases replacing, the plans’ money market, stable value, inflation protection and target-date offerings, PIMCO found in a survey.

Fund managers in emerging markets are increasingly paying attention to environmental, social and corporate governance factors, according to research by Mercer.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department extended its $3 trillion temporary guarantee program for money market mutual funds through Sept. 19 to provide continued reassurance for investors.

AllianceBernstein announced Tuesday that it eliminated 237 positions in the first quarter, ending with a staff of 4,760, down from 4,997 at the beginning of the year. Thirty-one of the positions eliminated were held by investment professionals, including analysts, portfolio manager, chief investment officers, research directors and traders.

Exchange-traded funds continued to grow in popularity, despite last year's poor market performance, as investors continue to look for ways to cut management fees.

CVC Capital Partners of Britain is in exclusive talks with Barclays to purchase its iShares exchange-traded fund unit for more than $4 billion.

Young adults between the ages of 23 and 28 are more worried about being “financially fit” than “physically fit,” Charles Schwab found in a survey of 1,252 people conducted in January.

More than 100 funds that had closed to new investors have reopened since the beginning of 2007, but advisers warn that investors shouldn’t be so quick to jump in, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Putnam Investments has hired Benjamin H. Lewis as managing director of defined contribution sales and relationship management. A 23-year veteran of the 401(k) industry who began his career at Fidelity in 1986, Lewis most recently was senior vice president for Fidelity Employer Services Co.

Sullivan Named Head Of Fidelity Bond Group