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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.

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.

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.

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.

The Dichotomies of the 22 Million Mass Affluent

August 4, 2008 - America's new mass affluent blend so effortlessly into society that it's often impossible to tell them apart from a traditional middle class family one day, or from an upper class family the next. Depending on which day you encounter a typical new mass affluent family, a mother could be found cutting out coupons and buying bulk at Sam's Club, or she and her husband could be playing golf at their country club.

SEC Prepares to Close the GAAP

August 4, 2008 - NEW YORK - A lot of people are wondering when the U.S. will adopt the same international standards for financial reporting that Europe and the rest of the world seem to be moving toward. The rule-based, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) have been around in the U.S. for years, but differ from the principle-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that the European Union adopted in 2005. Currently more than 100 countries have moved to incorporate or are allowing IFRS, according to the global tax and advisory service firm Ernst & Young, in a presentation last week.

Impressive Strides by Funds Against Cancer

July 28, 2008 - PLYMOUTH, Mass. - The bewildered looks on the faces of young patients in the children's ward of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute were wrenching enough. For Frank Strauss, who had himself become a parent in 1995 to his first child, Nicole, only three months before, the helplessness etched on their parents' faces was far worse. Having to walk through this scene every time he went to visit his mother, diagnosed with leukemia at the young age of 54, was devastating. Eventually, though, as Strauss' mother, Sandra, regained strength-she remains in remission today, as one in three adults who beats the disease-the ordeal became an inspiration.

Fund Execs Defend 401(k) Fees

July 28, 2008 - BOSTON - Excessive fees in some 401(k) plans are hurting the reputation of all 401(k) plans and shaking investor confidence in what most financial experts agree is a great way for the majority of Americans to save for retirement. 'There is a notion in the press that 401(k) investors are being hosed. This is not the case,' said Michael Hadley, the Investment Company Institute's associate counsel for pension regulation, at the 'Defined Contribution Investment Only Forum,' held last Monday and Tuesday at the Harvard Club, and hosted by Financial Research Associates. '401(k) investors are getting an incredible deal.'

Europe to Make UCITS Yet More Efficient

July 21, 2008 - The European Union proposed a new set of rules Thursday to make Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) even more efficient by eliminating additional regulatory hurdles. Most notably, the rules- which will replace 10 directives with just one and go into effect in 2011-will allow cross-border mergers of funds, making Europe's mutual fund industry more efficient. They will also permit master-feeder structures and eliminate much of the administrative paperwork currently required to market funds to other markets in the European Union of 27 member states. The revised regulations will also call for a two-page, plain English summary as opposed to the average 60-page prospectus.

Advisers Increase Clients' Cash Exposure

July 21, 2008 - Bad news for the mutual fund industry. The volatile market has stymied the 'long haul' game; an increasing number of financial advisers are moving larger portions of their clients' assets into cash positions. 'When you see the market dropping like a rock, does it make sense to tell most people that they should be O.K. with that?' said Tim Maurer, director of financial planning for The Financial Consulate. Many of his clients at his Hunt Valley, Md.-based practice have moved as much as 50% of their assets into cash over the last two quarters.

DTCC, Swift Partner on Alternative Messaging

July 21, 2008 - The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) are working together to introduce 12 interoperable XML-based message formats to the alternative investment community. The initiative is designed to allow market participants to connect to DTCC's Alternative Investment Products (AIP) platform, slated to begin testing in the third quarter, via the Swift network using International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20022-compliant XML messages. Firms will also be able to use proprietary formats through DTCC's Smart network.

Hey, Boomers, Surf's Up!

July 21, 2008 - Don't just retire. 'Reengage, reinvigorate, redefine, rejuvenate.' That's the inspirational message at MyRetirementShop.com, a new, all-in-one website for the 'at retirement' generation that AXA Equitable Life Insurance launched last Wednesday, after two years of research and numerous focus groups. Many independent sites already exist, but have had limited success attempting to cater to this crowd. AXA's website is notable not just for its comprehensiveness-from a concierge who can schedule a golf tee time, to learning about working while collecting Social Security benefits, to obtaining a doctor's second opinion-but also because it is the first of its kind for a financial services firm. It provides information pertaining to virtually any lifestyle interest or question that a retiree or pre-retiree might have, not just their finances.