Many of the firms implicated in the mutual fund trading abuse scandal have made changes. Among them:
• Last week, the board of Evergreen Investments, Boston, approved the promotion of Jim Angelos to chief compliance officer. Mr. Angelos was previously director of compliance for both the Evergreen funds and fund distributor Evergreen Investment Management Services. Evergreen is an affiliate of Wachovia Bank, Charlotte, N.C. In August, the SEC informed Evergreen it intended to take enforcement action against the firm; Evergreen is disputing the SEC's contention that it deserves enforcement action.
• Putnam Investments Inc., Boston, established an internal compliance control committee to coordinate compliance issues at a senior level across the firm in early 2004. Tony Ruys de Perez was named chief compliance officer in March. Charles "Ed" Haldeman Jr., Putnam president and chief executive officer, also announced last month that the firm will make further disclosures to investors on items such as aggregate compensation for each mutual fund's management team and the money senior managers have in Putnam funds. Putnam was the first firm caught in the trading abuse scandal.
• Franklin Templeton Investments, San Mateo, Calif., established in early spring a compliance rule committee responsible for overseeing and coordinating its compliance efforts, spokeswoman Stacey Johnston said. The firm appointed James Davis as chief compliance officer; he had been director of global compliance. Franklin Templeton also was implicated in the trading probe.
• AllianceBernstein Institutional Investment Management, New York, established high-level ethics and compliance committees late last year, said company spokesman John Meyers. Executives also promoted Mark Manley to chief compliance officer; he had been a senior vice president in the legal department. AllianceBernstein has settled charges of market timing in some of its mutual funds.
Firms not connected to the trading probes also are ramping up their compliance procedures.
For example, JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, New York, plans to create an infrastructure subcommittee responsible for identifying and addressing potential compliance and risk issues across all client services businesses by 2005. "I need to know that we have a tight control environment," said CEO Eve Guernsey.