Mutual funds

Despite poor returns on bank stocks over the past two years, at least a couple of money managers are creating new products tied to the banking industry, signaling that the worst may be over for bank funds.

Putnam Investments has filed with the SEC to create a tax-managed mutual fund.

Prudential Investments Advisory Group of Newark, N.J., introduced last week a business development program to help different types of financial advisors expand their businesses. Called Advisor 2000, the program is designed to help registered investment advisors, financial planners, independent stockbrokers and bankers build their practices and become more profitable. Advisor 2000 attempts to do this by helping advisors strengthen client relationships, develop strategic partnerships with financial institutions, prospect for wealthier clients and foster their own careers.

State Street Research of Boston has begun an investment education program for Spanish- and Chinese-speaking Americans. The effort includes distributing bilingual mutual fund prospectuses and Spanish- and Chinese-language educational brochures and providing bilingual customer service support. Beginning in June, State Street Research will run websites in Chinese and Spanish.

E*Trade of Palo Alto, Calif. plans to offer the E*Trade Technology Index Fund. The fund will track the Goldman Sachs Technology Index, which currently consists of 169 technology stocks. E*Trade filed a registration statement for the new fund with the SEC on May 24.

E*Trade Group of Palo Alto, Calif., filed a registration statement last week with the SEC to introduce two new index funds - the E*Trade Extended Market Index and the E*Trade Aggregate Bond Index. E*Trade introduced its first index fund, the E*Trade S&P 500 Index Fund, earlier this year.

The number of mutual funds operated by religious groups has risen dramatically in the past five years, and more are expected to be introduced to meet the demand of consumers who seek to align their investing with their beliefs.

Bankers Trust Company of New York will introduce the BT Pyramid International Developed Markets Fund in June for its retirement plan customers. The fund will invest in developed markets outside of the U.S.

Newport Fund Management of San Francisco has introduced the Newport Asia Pacific Fund which will invest in companies throughout Asia. The fund will be co-managed by David Smith and Christopher Legallet. Smith will concentrate on Japan while Legallet will focus on all other countries in the Pacific Rim.

Eaton Vance of Boston has been given a green light by the SEC chief accountant's office to install a .70 percent 12b-1 "equivalent" distribution program on two of its four senior prime rate bank loan interval funds. The approval was effective May 1.

Vestek, an investment research company of San Francisco, is trying to convince mutual funds that they can build their distribution with innovative research to give their brokers.

The National Securities Clearing Corp. is in the initial stages of creating an offshoot that will service independent financial advisors. The new arm plans to computerize mutual fund processing for these independent planners who still do fund processing by mail. The venture is so new, however, a name has not yet been decided upon. The NSCC board of directors approved the creation of the new group in December.

Princeton Financial Systems of Princeton, N.J., has created a new service called PAMConnect that gives customers remote access to Princeton's PAM system. PAM is a Windows-based portfolio accounting and management system used by 300 mutual funds and other institutional investors. Through PAMConnect, clients can now connect to Princeton's data center through dial-up connections using frame relay, leased lines or the Internet. Before, Princeton Financial clients would have to install PAM software at their own site. PAMConnect permits clients to out-source their data center maintenance to Princeton Financial without clients being aware of it, said Gordon Gacek, a spokesperson for the firm.

Merrill Lynch of New York plans to offer a new growth fund run by a former Delaware Investments portfolio manager. George H. Burwell will run the Merrill Lynch Disciplined Growth Fund, according to a registration statement Merrill Lynch filed with the SEC April 20.

On June 1, Vanguard will reopen its Windsor Fund, which currently has $16.97 billion of assets under management and seeks long-term growth of capital and income. The fund was initially launched in 1958 and has been closed since 1990 when Vanguard decided the fund's assets had grown to an unmanageable level, according to a Vanguard spokesperson. Wellington Management Company of Boston will continue as lead adviser.

The Dessauer Global Equity Fund, which attracted considerable attention when it was introduced as a closed-end fund because of its commitment to open under certain conditions, has been re-introduced as an open-end fund.

Gabelli Asset Management of Rye, N.Y., is planning to launch a new fund, the Gabelli Blue Chip Value Fund, by early fall. The fund will seek long-term capital appreciation from value equity investments. Barbara Marcin, who has just joined Gabelli, will manage the fund. Marcin was previously head of value investments at Citibank Global Asset Management.

Putnam Investments of Boston has introduced a new fund for retail mutual fund investors called the Putnam Small-Cap Value Fund. The fund invests in small, undervalued companies that have the potential for stock appreciation of 10 percent to 15 percent a year. The fund is being jointly managed by Edward Shadek, chief investment officer for small-cap value equities, and Jeffrey Netols, senior vice president.

Unified Financial Services of Indianapolis in late April launched six index funds and an actively-managed Internet fund. All of the funds have expense ratios of only 0.35 percent.

Ivy Management, a mutual fund investment adviser in Boca Raton, Fla., introduced the Ivy European Opportunities Fund on April 30. Henderson Investors of London will sub-advise this fund. Stephen Peak, head of Continental European equities at Henderson, will serve as portfolio manager on the fund, which is growth oriented.