Mutual Fund Industry Handbook

"The Mutual Fund Industry Handbook is a remarkably important work . . . I am profoundly impressed by the broad and comprehensive sweep of information and knowledge that this book makes available to industry participants, college and business school students, and anyone else with a serious interest in this industry." -- From the Foreword by John C. Bogle President, Bogle Financial Markets Research Center Founder and former chief executive, The Vanguard Group A Foreword by John C. Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and one of the most respected leaders in the mutual fund industry, sets the stage for this authoritative book that explains the complexities of the phenomenal industry in simple terms. Investors like the fact that mutual funds offer professional management, easy diversification, liquidity, convenience, a wide range of investment choices, and regulatory protection. Mutual Fund Industry Handbook touches on all of those features and focuses on the diverse functions performed in the day-to-day operations of the mutual fund industry. You'll learn about: Front-office functions-analysis, buying, and selling. Back-office functions, including settlement, custody, accounting, and reporting. Commission structures-front-end loads, back-end loads, or level loads. The various fund categories used by the Investment Company Institute, Morningstar, and Lipper. The roles played by fund managers, investment advisors, custodial banks, distributors, transfer agents, and other third-party service providers. If you want a definitive reference on the mutual fund industry, this is the book for you.

Foreword ix Acknowledgments xv Chapter 1 Introduction to the Industry 1 Chapter 2 A Brief History of Mutual Funds in the United States 13 Chapter 3 Overview of Industry Structure 35 Chapter 4 The Mutual Fund—Product Definition 57 Chapter 5 The Investment Management Front Office 83 Chapter 6 The Investment Management Back Office 109 Chapter 7 Fund Accounting, Audit, Legal, and Other Support Functions 131 Chapter 8 Fund Distribution: The Broker Channel 159 Chapter 9 The Direct, Bank, and Institutional Channels 187 Chapter 10 Cross-Channel Issues: Advertising and Retirement Investing 207 Chapter 11 The Transfer Agent, Part 1—Shareholder Record Keeping 229 Chapter 12 The Transfer Agent, Part 2—Customer Service 271 Chapter 13 Other Service Providers 293 Chapter 14 Going Abroad: Open-End Funds Outside the United States 307 Chapter 15 Going Forward: Issues and Challenges 329 Notes 357 Index 373