The New York State Deferred Compensation Board is preparing three requests for proposals for its $11 billion deferred compensation plan.
The California State Teachers Retirement System has issued a request for proposals for a consultant that will assist in an upcoming recordkeeping search for its $235.7 million Pension2 program. The program does not have a consultant. Bids are due Sept. 27.
Pressure from Capitol Hill is forcing the Department of Labor toward reopening a just-finished 401(k) plan fee disclosure regulation.
Dimensional Fund Advisors is the mutual fund provider that investment advisors are most loyal to, knocking long-time industry favorite American Funds from its perch, according to new data from Cogent Research.
Michael Isaac, chief compliance officer at Stadion Money Management, has warned that retirement funds using alternative investment management strategies such as tactical asset management will struggle to comply with planned rules for target-date funds.
According to a second quarter report from Fidelity Investments, 22% of its 11 million defined contribution participants have outstanding loans. How are you advising investors when it comes to borrowing from their 401(k) accounts?
The City of Aurora Police Department has selected Wurtz & Associates Institutional Investment Consulting as the investment consultant for its $150 million 401(a) defined contribution retirement fund, replacing Innovest Portfolio Solutions.
John Hancock Funds plans to launch a back-to-school campaign targeting advisors that is designed to increase 529 business.
Fund firms looking to fine-tune their communications with investment advisors should bear in mind that advisors were more pessimistic about the economy in August than they have been in 16 months, according to Rydex/SGI.
Munder Capital Management plans to fold its $45 million Munder Energy Fund and $43.7 million Munder Healthcare Fund into the $342.5 million Munder Growth Opportunities Fund, which currently invests primarily in Internet-related and science and technology stocks, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
When the Labor and Treasury departments take testimony Sept. 14 on lifetime income issues, they will hear a lot about the risk that an annuity provider may fail before the annuity purchaser claims their benefit.
Disclosing the ratio of stocks to bonds in a target-date fund when it reaches the end of its glidepath is not enough, AARP told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 23.
Calvert Investments is planning to pare down its fund lineup this fall, merging two small-cap and two mid-cap funds.
Lobbies for advisors and brokers last week fired off contradictory advice to the Securities and Exchange Commission on what fiduciary standard rule should apply to both industries.
Advisors are most loyal to Vanguard Group as an exchange-traded fund provider, according to new data from Cogent Research.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board should require the disclosure of transaction costs for fixed trade securities in relation to fund expense rations, not just commissions paid by funds to brokers in equity trades, says one commentator on FASB’s rule proposal on transaction costs.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s may have been criticized by the fund industry for including fund companies in the shareholder access overhaul, but the regulator stood by its reasoning in comments extrapolating on its Aug. 25 proxy rule on its Web site.
The Hartford has hired Denise Diana, who was most recently v.p. of business development for Transamerica Retirement Services.
USAA Investment Management Company has hired Kevin O’Fee as assistant v.p. of retirement strategy.
ING U.S. Retirement Services is revamping its participant Web site to be rolled out in the next few months, according to Lisa Margeson, head of marketing for corporate markets.
Before Andrew Donohue leaves as the country's top mutual fund regulator in November, the Securities and Exchange Commission will put out for public comment how it wants to better align the regulation of derivatives with the complex ways the industry is using them today.
Aon's Baljit Dail will become ceo of the Aon Hewitt consulting business post merger, and Kristi Savacool, from the Hewitt side, will become ceo of the benefits administration business.
Rydex/SGI Chief Executive Officer Richard Goldman plans to double Rydex/SGI's internal and external wholesale force by the end of next year to take advantage of the growth opportunity he sees in alternatives.
Fund industry deal activity slowed in the first half of 2010 as market volatility caused potential acquirers to sit on the sidelines, according to Jefferies & Co.
American Funds investors who lost a suit alleging advisor Capital Research and Management Company charged excessive fees are seeking a reversal based on Jones v. Harris.
Investor education is the most important thing when it comes to futures-based commodities exchange-traded funds, said Ed McRedmond, senior v.p. of institutional and portfolio strategies.
OppenheimerFunds has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to shift the strategies of two of its Main Street mutual funds.
BlackRock, BrightScope and the North American Securities Administrators Association are among the firms and trade groups taking issue with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal aimed at improving target-date funds disclosure.
State Street Global Investors has announced it will be closing its SSgA Core Edge Equity Fund on Aug. 30.
Hancock Retirement Plan Services is preparing to launch a set of lifecycle funds in mid-September that are designed to reach maturity at their target date.
Claymore Securities is looking to add junk bond funds to its fixed-maturity exchange-traded fund lineup.
More plans will continue to add target-date funds because of improving quality, Dean Kohmann, v.p. of 401(k) plan services for Schwab Retirement Plan Services, told FA.
International/global fixed-income has become a large opportunity for growth, and managers are investing in development efforts to capture these assets, according to “The Cerulli Quantitative Update: Retail Products and Strategies 2010.”
Fund industry deal activity slowed in the first half of 2010 as market volatility and uncertainty caused potential acquirers to take a breather and sit on the sidelines.
Nationwide Financial has hired Kevin McGarry as director of retirement income strategies. He will report to Tim Long, v.p. of independent channel sales. McGarry is responsible for leading a sales team that supports advisors across all channels with retirement income tools and services.
Prudential Investments is talking up short-term corporate bond funds as an alternative to low-yielding money market funds and is seeing an uptick in inflows to its own $3.8 billion Prudential Short-Term Corporate Bond Fund.
Nationwide Financial has hired Kevin McGarry as director of retirement income strategies.
Protection against systemic risk is now a core mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and that's bound to change the way mutual funds are regulated.
The City of Seattle plans to issue a request for proposals for recordkeeping services for its 8,000-life, $550 million deferred compensation plan in early fall, according to Rod Rich, the plan's director of investments and board chairman.
The State of West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board has issued a request for proposals to provide third-party administration for its $227 million West Virginia Teachers' Defined Contribution Plan. Bids are due Sept. 15.
Andrew "Buddy" Donohue's November departure from his post as the nation's top mutual fund regulator has spurred industry speculation that his departure might lessen chances of major change in Rule 12b-1, which allows the use of fund assets to pay fund distribution costs.
Harbor Funds will liquidate its $39.5 million Harbor Short Duration Fund, citing its inability to retain sufficient assets.
Does your investment lineup include inflation-hedging products such as Treasury inflation-protected securities, gold, commodities or real estate? How are you educating participants about them?
Columbia Management is planning to liquidate its Columbia Retirement target-date fund series and merge 62 mutual funds, including the RiverSource Retirement Plus target-date fund series, in an effort to align its mutual funds under the Columbia brand following its merger with RiverSource Investments (FA, 9/30).
U.S. One Trust plans to expand its exchange-traded fund family to include actively managed ETFs that invest directly in underlying markets, having requested permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to do so.
Cohen & Steers has filed to launch a closed-end fund that will invest in preferred and other income securities.
Boston Advisors is planning on launching its first mutual fund, a balanced asset allocation fund, this October.
Milwaukee-based Marshall Funds is looking to grow distribution to include more registered investment advisors, broker-dealers and fund platforms and has hired an industry veteran for the program.
Rydex/SGI is planning on sending advisors back to school this fall.
Principal Funds plans to combine two of its small-cap value funds, merging away the one that has failed to gather assets and turned in below-average performance for the past several years, according to Mike Beer, executive v.p. and chief operating officer.
Vanguard Group today launched the Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 Fund, aimed at 18- to 22-years-olds entering the workforce for the first time.
BB&T has unveiled an Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured deposit program for its 401(k) retirement plan sponsors and participants.
Law firm Shearman & Sterling is raising questions about the practicality of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal to cap 12b-1 fees, becoming the first law firm to mount any type of offensive implying that the SEC’s proposals will not work.
Plaintiffs’ bar lawyers suffered a setback on Aug. 12 when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision and held that there is no private right of action to sue funds under Section 13(a) of the Investment Company Act.
The Missouri Higher Education Savings Program Board plans to release a request for proposals for a program manager for Missouri's $1.5 billion direct- and advisor-sold 529 College Savings Plan by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
OppenheimerFunds is planning to launch the first in a series of new marketing campaigns targeting financial advisors, Martha Willis, chief marketing officer, told FA.
Firms are looking to fan the flames of demand for emerging market debt exchange-traded funds by adding a new twist--local currency exposure.
Cohen & Steers has filed for its first closed-end fund investing in master limited partnerships.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury issued a formal "request for information" regarding ways to enhance the retirement security of American workers by integrating lifetime income solutions into employer-sponsored retirement programs.
How are you using social media to reach investors?