Products September 27, 2007

Houston Firm Releases CIFs for Adviser, TPA Market

Houston-based Hand Benefits&Trust has unveiled what it said is a new breed of collective investment funds (CIFs) that offers multiple share classes to pay advisers and third-party advisers (TPAs).
Reported by

A Hand news release said the new offerings have an institutional share class including all trading, execution, trustee, and adviser fees of less than a 1% total expense ratio.

According to the announcement, the Moran Asset Management Group will manage four of the CIF’s for Hand.

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The company said the new offerings feature managed asset allocations at the 401(k) participant level, tailored to the participant’s risk.

More information is at http://www.handgroup.com/index.html or by calling 713-460-1000.

Products September 27, 2007

FTSE Looks to PowerShares for Four ETFs

FTSE has licensed PowerShares to create four new international exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Reported by

The ETFs will track the FTSE RAFI Emerging Index, the FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. Mid-Small 1500 Index, the FTSE RAFI Developed Asia Pacific ex-Japan Mid-Small Index, and the FTSE RAFI Developed Europe Mid-Small Index.

The FTSE RAFI indexes weight constituents by sales, cash flow, book value and dividends rather than market capitalization.

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The new Developed ex-U.S., Asia Pacific ex-Japan and Europe Small-Mid funds complements three PowerShares ETFs launched on June 25, 2007 which track the large-cap versions of these FTSE RAFI indexes.

The PowerShares ETFs are:

• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets Portfolio (PXH)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. Small-Mid Portfolio (PDN)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Small-Mid Portfolio (PDQ)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Europe Small-Mid Portfolio (PWD)

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