No Load Shares Dominate Fund Sales
May 31, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - No Load share classes, particularly those without 12b-1 fees, have grown to become the single most important share class in mutual fund sales...
Administration
Study Says Committee Styles Mirror Members
May 31, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The vast majority of investment committee members surveyed said they prefer a democratic approach.
Public Pension Funding and Valuation Methods Vary Globally
May 31, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The valuation and disclosure of public pension promises in some countries lacks transparency, which may be hiding potentially huge fiscal liabilities that are...
Markets Narrow S&P 500 Pension Funding Gap
May 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – While the global market rebound in 2010 was certainly a welcome respite for pension funding, it didn’t do much to...
PBGC Board Approves New Investment Policy
May 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Board of Directors of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has unanimously adopted a new investment policy, though it’s not...
Retirement Plan Tax Benefits Decreased Household Stock Ownership
May 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Business shows that household stock ownership decreases as the tax benefits associated with owning...
Foundations, Charities Returns Remain in Double Digits
May 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Two companion studies of foundations and operating charities show that investment returns were in the range of 12% in FY2010 – the second...
Segal Contends Market Value Pension Measurements not Useful
May 26, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new issue of Segal’s Public Sector Letter discusses why the market value of liabilities (MVL) is a misleading methodology for valuing public...
JPMorgan Targeted in Pension Fund Suit against Hedge Fund
May 25, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Highland Capital Management LP and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are being sued by a Houston pension plan over claims that willful looting led...
KY Governor’s Actions with Pension Systems Questioned
May 25, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Following reviews of the roles of placement agents with Kentucky’s retirement systems, some actions of Governor Steve Beshear are being questioned.
Income Annuity Holders Could Use More Information
May 24, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Financial advisers and their clients would benefit from receiving more precise information about their existing immediate income annuity contracts, according to a new...
Most IRA Assets in Equities
May 24, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - New research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) IRA Database finds that almost 40% of IRA assets are invested in equities, just...
FTSE Finds Four-Fold Growth in ESG Investments over Decade
May 24, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new report, “FTSE4Good: 10 years of impact & investment” finds almost a four-fold growth in ESG investments over the decade to $10.1...
Another Sentenced in NY Pension Pay-to-Play Probe
May 24, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The former boss of New York's Liberal Party has been sentenced to a conditional discharge for his role in a pay-to-play scandal involving...
FINRA Fines Nuveen $3M over Auction Rate Securities Marketing
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Nuveen Investments, LLC $3 million for creating misleading marketing materials used in sales of auction...
Report Says It May be Time to Consider Real Assets
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A new report from State Street’s SPDR University suggests that, with rising food and gas prices slowly beginning to push inflation higher, investors...
Institutional Demand for ETFs Increasing
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Institutional investors are increasingly bullish on using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in their portfolios, according to a new study.
Small Number of Blockbuster Products Gain Most of Assets
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Institutional asset holders since the financial crisis, in a back-to-basics environment, are selecting fewer strategic partners and even fewer products, according to a...
Small Cap Dominates Institutional Product Performance in Q1 2011
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Investment Metrics’ (IM) analysis of approximately 6,200 institutional separate account composites and commingled fund products finds the U.S. Small Cap category topped the...
NJ Approves Increase in Alternative Investments
May 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The New Jersey State Investment Council voted to increase how much the state’s pension system may put into alternative investments in the next...