Scudder Release Load Details to SEC
From Wall Street Journal
The Journal is picking up on the news of Zurich Financial Services Group's Scudder Kemper Investments converting its Scudder direct-sales mutual funds into a line of funds to be sold by brokers and other intermediaries. The paper's source is filings with the SEC. Details include the addition of three broker-sold share classes to more than 30 direct-sold Scudder mutual funds, starting at the end of this year. Kemper funds will als be rebranded to Scudder.

Fund Manager Pay is Up
From USA Today
Compensation to fund managers is climbing. A Buck Consultants study of 30 fund companies found that total compensation for stock fund managers rose rise 9.3 percent in the 12 months ended March 2000 to $341,000 in salary and bonuses, Buck says. The survey also found that intermediate-level money managers averaged $154,000 in compensation. The biggest bucks went to the CEO (of course) who took down a base $556,000 in 1999 compared to $439,000 the year before. Total compensation for CEOs rose 8 percent to $1.1 million.

Schwab Becomes Preferred on AOL
From Wall Street Journal
Two of the strongest names on the Internet -- Charles Schwab Corp. and America Online have entered an alliance. Under the deal Schwab will gain access to AOL's 28 million subscribers by becoming the "premier" provider of financial and brokerage services on the service's personal finance sites. The two firms will also jointly market the services both online and offline.

Vanguard Takes Heat for Admiral Shares
From Wall Street Journal
Vanguard doesn't usually get criticized, but in this case its Admiral shares come under attack. Actually, the whole fund industry takes it on the chin for adopting the "marketing gimmick" of multiple share classes. "One of the worst inventions ever to sweep the load-fund industry was the creation of multiple share classes," says the author. Vanguard, of course, is taking the concept to the no-load part of the market with the Admiral shares.

Fund Flows Strong in September
From Wall Street Journal
The Nasdaq may be no a roller coaster ride, but that is not stopping investors from investing funds. September flows to stock funds totaled $17.26 billion as measured by the Investment Company Institute. That amount is a drop of nearly $7 billion from August's total of $24 billion in net new cash. The article adds that both T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments are on track to pull in more new money in October than September. Yet at Schwab flows into OneSource have dropped to $527 million in net new cash during October through last week, down from $710 million in new cash received in all of September. At Vanguard flows have fallen by half to $1.4 billion from $2.9 billion last month and $2.2 billion a year ago.

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