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Citi Expands SMA Hub

August 11, 2008 - Citi has expanded its proprietary managed accounts connectivity hub with CitiConnect, specifically designed for separately managed accounts (SMAs). Developed by Citi's securities and fund services business, CitiConnect is the most comprehensive hub to date for straight-through processing of reconciliation, trading and allocations in the managed accounts industry. Users can send trades on all their SMA accounts from one unified order management system that connects across multiple styles, sponsors and programs. The main benefit is unified trade processing from a single platform, and the ability to step-out trades, according to Citi. (c) 2008 Money Management Executive and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.mmexuctive.com http://www.sourcemedia.com/

FutureStage Boosts Fidelity's Brand Awareness While Giving Young People a Strong Voice

August 11, 2008 - When Fidelity Investments expanded FutureStage last year beyond New York to help young people in underserved public schools in Los Angeles, Boston, Houston and Chicago realize their potential through the performing arts, it had no idea how incredibly life-altering and ambitious FutureStage would become. For Earnest Meadows, who wrote a play that fellow students performed for one night on Broadway, it has meant the difference between a life on the streets, having had no home throughout high school, and acceptance at Cornell, since FutureStage kept him 'busy, active, happy' and interested in school.

Executive Moves

August 11, 2008 - Clapp Accepts Sales Post With Fred Alger Mgmt. Elizabeth Clapp has joined Fred Alger Management as senior vice president, national sales manager, overseeing the financial adviser and broker channels. She comes to the firm from Evergreen Investments, where she was managing director, head of national accounts.

Red Carpet Service For the Worried

August 11, 2008 - With consumers nervous about their financial health, banks such as Wells Fargo and Citizens Bank see this need as an opportunity. Wells Fargo is making licensed brokers available to customers to discuss risk, assets and investment strategies. The bank's goal is to reach customers who aren't high-net-worth, but still have a mix of products across a number of institutions: deposits, loans, retirement plans, mutual funds and education financing.

Week In Review

August 11, 2008 - Full Force: SEC Fills All Commissioner Positions After months of vacancies, Chairman Christopher Cox finally has a full slate of commissioners to work with at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The final two vacant seats have just been filled as Luis Aguilar, who was nominated for a term to expire in 2010, and Troy A. Paredes, who was nominated for a term expiring in 2013, were sworn in.

Instilling Nerves of Steel

August 11, 2008 - If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all. When it comes to mutual funds' communications with investors about today's economic realities, the industry puts a positive spin on the market.

Overlay Projects Proceed Amid Downturn

August 11, 2008 - Given the turbulence in financial markets, now may seem an inopportune time for financial advisers to make drastic changes to the way they interact with investors. But according to bank officials and technology providers, plenty of banks are moving ahead with their plans to implement new systems, including those that offer unified managed accounts and overlay software.

Wealthy Investors Grow Pessimistic

August 11, 2008 - As the stock market continues to stumble along, high-net-worth investors are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the economy and dissatisfied with the performance of their financial services providers. 'When times are going well, people don't complain about fees, they complain about softer stuff, like how they don't think their adviser is attentive enough,' said Walt Zultowski, senior vice president of research and concept development for The Phoenix Companies and author of the '2008 Phoenix Wealth Survey.'

Companies Gear Up For XBRL Reporting

August 11, 2008 - The Securities and Exchange Commission could mandate the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in mutual fund risk return summaries by as early as the first quarter of next year, according to industry experts, putting many fund companies on the data-tagging fast track. XBRL US, the U.S. version of the international consortium, has joined forces with Andover, Mass.-based mutual fund data provider NewRiver to make sure public companies, mutual funds and credit rating agencies are ready in time.

Week in Review

August 4, 2008 - The Senate doesn’t like either campaign, each of which ran in the Washington area. TIAA-CREF has since pulled its ads, but Fidelity, claiming all of its communications go through legal review, is still running them. The problem, according to Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, is that the ads mislead people who are retiring into thinking that it is imperative for them to roll their TSP money into an IRA. The reality, Kohl says, is that the TSP charges a mere 15 cents for every $1,000 in the plans, and that might be a better choice for investors.

SEC Compliance Findings Target Many Weaknesses

August 4, 2008 - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination released a new ComplianceAlert recognizing common flaws and weaknesses among mutual fund companies. The SEC found deficiencies in soft-dollar practices, mutual fund proxies, personal trading by investment advisory employees, valuation and liquidity issues for high-yield municipal bond funds, broker/dealers’ valuation of collateral management processes and a variety of other issues. “Our June 2007 ComplianceAlert was very well received by industry compliance and legal professionals,” said Lori Richards, director of the SEC’s compliance inspections office. “Many industry compliance staff told us that, after reading it, they reviewed their firms’ practices in the areas we noted and took steps to ensure that their firms’ practices were fully compliant. We expect that this second ComplianceAlert will be similarly helpful.” (c) 2008 Money Management Executive and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.mmexuctive.com http://www.sourcemedia.com/

Executive Moves

August 4, 2008 - Rampart Promotes Two To Managing Director Rampart Investment Management announced the promotions of Debbie L. Cancela and John J. Harrington to support the firm’s global expansion. Cancela, senior vice president, director of operations and chief compliance officer, and Harrington, executive vice president and director of investments, will both become managing directors.

At Deadline

August 4, 2008 - SEC, Department of Labor Join Forces on 401(k)s Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L Choa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last week to formalize and strengthen the cooperation and relationship between their two agencies. The purpose of the MOU is to share information, related to investments and retirement, to help protect Americans’ $5.8 trillion in retirement assets.

SEC Helps Boards Get Over The Enigma of Trades

August 4, 2008 - The Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance last week for fund boards of directors in assessing their firm’s soft-dollar practices. The SEC said it was issuing the guidance a full two years after the limitations it put on soft dollars in 2006, restricting it only to research, due to rapidly evolving market and trading practices. True enough, there are wide discrepancies among brokerages today, due to rapidly evolving markets, trading practices and electronic crossing networks. Fund companies have until Oct. 1 to comment on the SEC’s guidance. The Commission outlines numerous considerations for boards, which must rely on reports from top management, auditors, counsel and chief compliance officers in assessing day-to-day trading systems.

ICI Asks SEC to Expand Credit Rating Rules

August 4, 2008 - WASHINGTON — The Investment Company Institute last Monday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand its proposed credit rating agency rules on structured products to include municipal securities, and to increase the secondary market disclosure requirements for the municipal market. The ICI said that the SEC’s proposed rules that would require credit rating agencies to disclose conflicts of interest highlight similar disclosure issues in the municipal market. In addition, the ICI said, the Commission’s proposal to take references to certain ratings out of its rules will put the onus of credit analysis more squarely on fund companies and other investors that will, in turn, need more up-to-date disclosures from municipal issuers.