Administration February 3, 2004

Regulators Focus on RS for Market Timing

March 2, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The latest financial services firm to feel the steely eyes of federal and state regulators upon it for its mutual fund trading practices is apparently a San Francisco-based company.
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RS Investments said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that the SEC’s staff has made a preliminary determination to bring civil enforcement action against it over market-timing in its flagship $1.6 billion RS Emerging Growth Fund, according to the Associated Press.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s is also investigating RS Investments. The firm said it is discussing the matter with the SEC and Spitzer’s office.

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Morningstar analyst Chris Traulsen said in a recent report that the Emerging Growth fund’s prospectus doesn’t place any limits on an investor’s ability to trade its shares. He noted that the firm’s policy was to permit trading in the fund by existing shareholders as long as it wasn’t “disruptive.”

RS was founded in the early 1980’s as a subsidiary of investment bank Robertson, Stephens & Co., but has been on its own since 1999. It offers 10 mutual funds and manages about $7.2 billion in assets. RS Investment Management, L.P. is the investment advisor to RS Investments mutual funds.

Benefits February 2, 2004

Job Seekers Can Check Background Before Their Boss

February 2, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com)-Starting Monday, job applicants using Yahoo!'s HotJobs.com will be able to perform a background check on themselves to make certain the information is correct before potential employers see it.
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Yahoo!’s HotJobs.com has partnered with ChoicePoint Inc., a data vendor that collects and sells financial, legal, and personal information, which will perform the background check.

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A basic background check will be available for $24.95, which will include a check of public records that pertain to an individual, including criminal records from every state. For additional fees, a more extensive report will be available. The information comes from courthouse records, credit reports, telephone directories, school records, and is verified by ChoicePoint employees.

Once the background check is complete and reviewed, the person receiving the information has the option of sending a link to a prospective employer.

The service is only offered to those people looking for background information about themselves; no third parties will be allowed to use this service. To ensure this, ChoicePoint says there will be an involved identity verification service in which an applicant will be asked numerous questions that only they would know the answers to. If someone gets a certain number of answers incorrect, they will have to call ChoicePoint to verify their identity and access their information.

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