American Funds

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American Funds is a family of 30 mutual funds managed by Capital Research and Management, part of the Capital Group Companies. The company does not advertise and shuns publicity, preferring to rely on brokers' recommendations to their clients.[1] With over $1 trillion in assets under management (as of April 2007), American Funds is 3rd largest behind Fidelity and The Vanguard Group.

[edit] Regulatory Issues

American was under investigation by the state of California for so-called "shelf space" payments to broker dealers. Although other fund management companies paid settlements and restitutions, American Funds refused to admit wrongdoing. [2][3][4] In February 2008, the SEC and CA State Attorney General dropped the charges.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ellis, Charles D. (2004). Capital: The Story of Long-Term Investment Excellence. John Wiley & Sons, 217. ISBN 0471567043. “Avoiding...publicity or recognition is deeply entrenched in Capital's culture and is important to the organization.” 
  2. ^ Palmeri, Christopher; Carter, Adrienne; Borrus, Amy. "American Funds' Dilemma", BusinessWeek, 2005-02-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-18. 
  3. ^ Sanders, Chris. "Edward Jones Details Payments by 7 Funds", Reuters, Shepherd Smith & Edwards LLP, 2005-01-14. 
  4. ^ "Funds in brief: Biggest pension funds got bigger, survey finds", International Herald Tribune, 2005-09-21. 
  5. ^ Petruno, Tom. "State drops broker fee case", Los Angeles Times, 2008-02-15. 

[edit] External links