The post-September rebound in stocks is swelling the coffers of Stilwell Financial. The parent of Janus and Berger Funds reported that it ended 2001 with $193 billion in assets under management. That figure is an increase of $23 billion since the end of September. Landon H. Rowland, Stilwell's chairman, president and chief executive officer pinned the rebound on the firm's brands.



The list of former Zurich Scudder executives has grown one longer as Peter Sartori, Asia Pacific Investments Chief, has left after less than a year. Sartori was the manager of three funds -- Pacific Opportunities Fund, New Asia and Global Opportunities-Asia Pacific Equity Fund. He was based and Singapore. Terrence Gray will take over his duties.



Federated Investors will merge its New Economy fund into its Capital Appreciation fund. The new economy fund is just 15 months old and was failing to attract sufficient assets.



Boston Partners has shut its $375 million Small Cap Value II fund to new investors. The closing was made to "control growth" in the fund's asset base.



Aon has selected Ned Davis Research (Venice, Florida) to subadvise its $138 million Asset Allocation fund, reports Investor News Service. The fund had been advised by Aon and the change was revealed in an SEC filing. The fund will also raise fees by 91 percent to cover the fees paid to Ned Davis Research.



Vanguard officials are suspicious that a Barclays (BGI) executive with making sneaky comments on a Morningstar-hosted Web message board with the goal of marketing BGI's ETFs. The anonymous "Dr. Option" posted 167 messages praising exchange-traded funds, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The report fingers Brad Zigler, BGI's former marketer for its iShares products as a suspected author of the posts. Zigler had written columns for TheStreet.com as "Doc Options" and the postings halted when a Morningstar executive contacted Zigler about the posts. It does not appear that the postings were misleading, but they do point out the depth of the marketing war emerging around ETFs.



ING has added several funds from Invesco to its Golden Select service, a variable annuity offering. The funds include the following Invesco funds: Health Sciences, Financial Services, and Utilities.



Nationwide Financial has launched America's marketFLEX Annuity, a managed portfolio product in the variable annuity space. The offering includes 29 Rydex sub-accounts.



Wilmington Trust Corp. has named Betsy Atkins and Deborah Fine to its board of directors. Atkins is president of Baja Corp, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Coral Gables, Florida, and ceo of Accordiant Ventures, a venture fund in the technology and life sciences sectors. Fine is president of the Avon Products, Inc. Teen Business. 

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