Waddell & Reed Financial is appealing a $27 million ruling by an NASD Dispute Resolution panel. The panel said that the Kansas City firm must pay financial advisor Steven Sawtelle $1.8 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. Waddell & Reed terminated Sawtelle in 1997.



Franklin Resources (parent of Franklin Templeton Investments) reported preliminary month-end assets under management by the company's subsidiaries of $266.6 billion for the month ended July 31, 2001, compared to $267.9 billion in the preceding month and $229.4 billion in the same month a year ago.



MetaMarkets.com may be out of the fund business, but it is still putting together portfolios. The firm launched three real-time model portfolios: the Irrational Exuberance Portfolio, the Rational Exuberance Portfolio, and the Market Timing Portfolio. The models enable investors to put together their own portfolio and are maintained by Don Luskin and Dave Nadigm, cofounders of MetaMarkets. Earlier the firm said it is for sale and liquidated its registered mutual funds.



Fidelity is adding sector funds to its variable annuity product line offered by Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company (FILI). The insurance arm of the Boston Behemoth will offer seven new Fidelity VIP funds in its variable annuities. The new funds are VIP Consumer Industries Portfolio, VIP Cyclical Industries Portfolio, VIP Financial Services Portfolio, VIP Health Care Portfolio, VIP Natural Resources Portfolio, VIP Technology Portfolio, and VIP Telecommunications & Utilities Growth Portfolio. FILI annuities now offer 35 investment choices.



Nationwide Financial Services is buying Provident Mutual Life Insurance for $1.56 billion demutualization, says Reuters. The acquisition increases Nationwide's variable life and retirement products and distribution. Standard & Poor's is not exactly applauding the deal. It put Nationwide on its CreditWatch negative because of: concerns with its consolidated capitalization of the combined company, integration concerns, and fears that management will become distracted by the acquisition and will not focus.



Thornburg Mortgage has completed a secondary offering of 5.5 million shares of common stock, worth a grand total of $88 million.



More than 650,000 Fidelity customers who invest in 401(k) and 403(b) plans have invested in Fidelity's life-stage funds. Fidelity's Freedom Funds alter asset allocations as the funds mature. Naturally, these funds have proven popular with older investors but have also done will in other age categories.



Neuberger Berman has launched a new website (www.nb.com) using Vignette applications that customizes content to each user based on user's answers from a brief questionnaire. The site uses a set of "business rules" that determine what each user will see.



National City has launched National City My Sites on its website, www.nationalcity.com/mysites, an account aggregations service that allows users seamless access to all of their online accounts.



401k es muy importante! Ingham, an employee benefits consulting and administration firm in the southeast, now features its website, www.ingham.com in both English and Spanish. Investors can now do everything from checking their account balances to using interactive planning tools in Spanish.  

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