Sign up today and take advantage of member-only content — the kind of timely, cutting edge industry insight that only Money Management Executive can deliver.

• Exclusive Online Only Content
• Free Daily Email News Alerts
• Asset Management Blogs

Operations & Technology

News

Hidden, High 401(k) Fees Hitting Investors Up for Hundreds of Thousands

A mere 30-basis point difference can mean more than $115,000 over 30 years.

Fidelity Creates RIA 'Client Experience Organization'

Serravalli is heading the new unit, whose model has already been in testing for the past few months.

BoA Brokerage Offers 401(k) Health Monitor

The tool calculates the overall financial wellness of a 401(k).

Money Funds Welcome Fed’s Reverse Repos

The Federal Reserve has expanded its universe of sources of reverse repos beyond primary dealers to include money market funds.

RBC Sees Continued Growth in Electronic Trading

More than half of traders have adjusted approach to high-frequency trading.

More

Articles

Money Fund Rule First Big Test for XML

The Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a major step toward structured, automated reporting with its requirement that all money market fund activity be filed using the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data-tagging format-an aspect of the updated Rule 2a-7 that was overshadowed by its net asset value disclosure requirements. "This rule is a significant move toward industry adoption of structured content for regulatory reporting," said Scott Powell, a senior market analyst at the Pittsburgh-based data automation company Confluence.

SEC Defers IFRS Decision Until 2011

The U.S. has taken another step closer toward converging its accounting standards with those adopted by the majority of the world. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously approved a statement in support of efforts to converge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in order to narrow the differences between the two sets of standards.

Johnson Calls For Reduced IT Complexity to Raise Quality of Customer Service

MIAMI -- Technological advances are allowing investment firms to add ever-increasing layers of information to their products, but leaders say the financial services industry should be doing more to reduce complexity for the end user so investors can make sense of it all. "Reduced complexity will improve quality, bring about innovation and improve customer loyalty," said Abigail Johnson, vice chairman of parent FMR LLC and president of Fidelity Investments' personal and workplace investing business.

A New Look at Outsourcing: A Key Strategy for Recovery

The ability to adapt to changing market conditions has always been a critical element for success in the financial services arena. But in today's market, asset managers will have to go beyond adaptation and in many respects reinvent themselves in order to ride out a perfect storm of industry pressures. Recovery from the recession of 2008-2009 promises to be slow. Net revenues remain threatened as investors continue to gravitate toward lower-margin and "safer" products. And consolidation among distributors exerts pressure on institutional pricing and revenue sharing. Surviving in a risk-sensitive, capital-intensive environment will require asset management companies to restructure operating models as they seek to increase revenues and transform costs, while responding to changing investor needs.

New Money Fund Rules Could Create Headaches For Transfer Agents

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new rules to improve liquidity and disclosure for money market funds spared the $3.2 trillion industry from the cumbersome operational task of marking value of shares to market every day. The bad news is the burden is now on the back office. Money market funds must adapt their customer service procedures and information systems to more frequently disclose their "shadow net asset values" and modify their transfer agent systems to be able to process orders and redemptions at a price other than $1 a share.

More