Mutual funds

Nuveen Investments of Chicago plans to introduce the first exchange-traded funds to track U.S. Treasury indexes, according to the company. The five new funds, called Fixed Income Trust Receipts, will be based on indexes of one, two, five and 10-year treasury issues and 20-year STRIPs - separately-traded registered interest and principal securities, Nuveen said.

State Farm Insurance of Bloomington, Ill. has announced that it has begun offering 10 State Farm mutual funds in North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Kansas. State Farm Insurance plans to offer the mutual funds to customers throughout the United States by March, according to the company.

Aetna Funds, a division of Aeltus Investment Management of Hartford, Conn. will add a sixth fund to its Principal Protection Funds series of guaranteed mutual funds in April 2001, according to Aetna.

Berger Funds of Denver announced that it is revising the investment strategy of the Berger Growth and Income Fund. The fund, which will be renamed the Berger Large Cap Growth Fund, will no longer seek income as part of its investment objective, and will concentrate solely on investment growth within the large cap market, according to the announcement.

Enterprise Group of Funds of Atlanta has announced plans to introduce a mutual fund focused on corporate takeovers. Enterprise will launch the Enterprise Mergers and Acquisitions Fund in the first quarter of 2001, the company announced.

PNC Advisors, the high net worth wealth management division of PNC Financial Services of Pittsburgh, has filed with the SEC to launch a new family of funds of funds using the funds and investment capabilities of its investment advisory affiliate BlackRock, Inc. of New York. The funds will cater to the needs of affluent investors.

The past year was one in which fund alternatives - from managed separate accounts and online portfolio products to hedge funds and exchange-traded funds - earned respect, if somewhat grudgingly, from the fund industry.

If there is a stock index to track, chances are good that there is an exchange-traded fund based on that index. So far, however, there is not an exchange-traded fund that tracks a socially-responsible index of stocks. But, that may soon change, according to industry analysts and executives.

ProFunds of Bethesda, Md., which plans to introduce a line of six new exchange-traded funds, five of which will track the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, does not have the right to do so, according to Bill Jordan, a spokesperson for McGraw-Hill Companies of New York, Standard & Poor's parent company.

Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco is adding 10 new exchange-traded funds to its line up of iShares exchange-traded funds, according to a preliminary prospectus filed late last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two investment advisers with websites that facilitate online community investing have disclosed plans to introduce mutual funds that will be run by individual investors, not veteran fund managers.

The financial world may have to wait a little for the first actively-managed, exchange-traded fund, at least for the kind that leading exchange-traded fund sponsors are trying to develop.

In an effort to improve online interaction with consumers, the website of Pioneer Investment Management of Boston is offering "Financial CyberGuides" which, much like real advisors, listen and respond to investors' questions.

SSB Citi Asset Management Group of New York has introduced its first-ever family of no-load index funds. The family is comprised of 11 index funds. Two other index funds, pegged to the FORTUNE 500 and FORTUNE e-50 stock indexes - the Citi FORTUNE 500 Index Fund and the Citi FORTUNE e-50 Index Fund - are expected to be offered to investors beginning Nov. 27.

Federated Investors of Pittsburgh is collaborating with Native American asset managers to create the first fund family for Native Americans. The first fund will be called 4 Winds Treasury Money Market Fund. The family's aim will be to get a large proportion of the money invested by the 500 tribes in the U.S., a figure calculated to be a total of $15 billion.

new york - Despite their growing popularity, exchange traded funds face substantial obstacles to continued growth, according to industry executives. Foremost among those obstacles are the heavy concentration of assets in a few products and the narrowness of their appeal, the lack of understanding of the products, the need for education and the high cost of entry into the market, according to executives who spoke at a conference on closed-end funds here last week sponsored by IBC USA Conferences of Westborough, Mass.

Ever more mutual fund companies are offering managed, customized accounts for individual investors, according to a recently published report by Cerulli Associates of Boston.

Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco will launch its first exchange-traded fund that tracks a Nasdaq index sometime in January, according to a preliminary prospectus the company filed with the SEC Oct. 19.

Invesco Funds Group of Denver is adding a new class of shares to the majority of its funds. The new class "K" shares are offered to qualified retirement plans, educational savings programs, and wrap programs through an intermediary and include an extra fee, which will be paid to that intermediary, according to a recent SEC filing.

State Street Global Advisors of Boston is planning to launch a family of exchange-traded funds in Europe based on the European indices of Morgan Stanley Capital International of New York. State Street Global has a licensing agreement to use Morgan Stanley's sector indices, according to Liz Kennedy, a spokesperson for State Street Global.