At the Bell

SEC adopting rule on auditors’ roles

* Intense controversy in the accounting industry notwithstanding, the Securities and Exchange Commission will issue its rules on auditor independence on Wednesday.

Arthur Levitt, the SEC’s chairman, who is rushing the rule through to ensure that it gets out before the Clinton administration ends, issued a statement saying, “The rhetoric has died down, and honest ideas have been exchanged.”

He said the final rule will alleviate concerns by industry members.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants strongly opposes the rule, saying it will prevent accounting firms from getting into consulting and other types of financial activities that many are trying to diversify into.

Merrill may add

to broker training

* Merrill Lynch & Co. is considering raising the bar for new financial consultants, says E. Stanley O’Neal, executive vice president. Currently, a new Merrill broker gets two years of professional development. “We’re looking at significantly lengthening it and adding a requirement for professional accreditation in financial analysis or planning.”

Mr. O’ Neal spoke at the Securities Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Fla., last week.

MutualFunds.com finally shuts down

* Time has run out for MutualFunds.com. The Boston startup that was attempting to launch a full-service mutual fund platform, including access to investment products, analytical tools, career management and continuing education, has shut down after just 11 months.

Company representatives say a lack of venture capital forced the closing. In a last-ditch effort, company officials even put the domain name, MutualFunds.com, up for sale last month, hoping to fetch $1 million.

The name is still on the market, and the company’s original concept could be absorbed by some of the companies now hiring some of the 18 original employees at MutualFunds.com.

Sources familiar with the company say both American Skandia Life Assurance Corp. of Shelton, Conn., and PFPC Inc. of Wilmington, Del., are jockeying to take over the original concept of MutualFunds.com.

Latin America gets investment boost

* A website dedicated to emerging markets, eMergingPortfolio .com, has released its latest country weighting reports. Fifty-four managers surveyed, representing $43 billion in capital, had an average weighting of 28% in Latin America at the end of June, up from 23.9% last June, reports the website.

Exposure to Asia fell to 39.3%, from 43.1%, the lowest to date. Allocations to emerging Europe, Africa and the Middle East stayed the same at about 14%. The site also reported Brazil as a top country allocation, with an average weighting of 12.5%.

Mexico has moved ahead of Korea. Exposure to Mexico rose to 12.1%, up 26%. Korea is down 11%, with average weighting of 10.8%. Mexico’s new position has made it the second-favorite country of fund managers, reports the site. The website is owned and operated by Global Investor Publishing Inc.

Diversified funds have a tough week

* Diversified domestic equity funds slumped by 2.05% during the week ended Nov. 9, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Funds that had been hovering flat or doing moderately well ahead of the U.S. presidential elections declined sharply after confusion set in over the outcome of the race.

Funds favoring growth and technology stocks were hit hardest.

Moody’s says uncertainty in the United States eventually infected overseas markets as world and foreign funds, which had initially rallied, fell later in the week. The Moody’s World and Foreign Equity Fund Index declined by 0.71%, with major weakness in Latin America, Europe and world funds.