For starters, these plans are already losing market share to their direct-sold counterparts — giving up 9 percent market share in the past five years. And experts predict that this trend will pick up pace as regulation of the brokerage industry expands.On October 12, the ScholarShares Investment Board, which runs California’s 529 plan, announced it had decided to drop the plan because it was not able to find a manager that “could deliver a competitive plan for our account holders,” according to a statement by Joe DeAnda, a spokesman for California’s treasurer office.The change came as California switched providers from Fidelity Investments to TIAA-CREF. TIAA-CREF did not bid to run the plan.”We bid on the direct plan because that is where we feel we have the most expertise,” said Doug Chittenden, senior vice president of institutional product management at TIAA-CREF. California’s direct 529 plan has $3.9 billion in assets, compared to the adviser-sold plan, which has $283 million.Currently, 30 states have both an adviser-sold and direct option, according to FRC. When 529 plans came to the forefront in 1997, adviser-sold plans — which are sometimes available nationwide and are sold by brokers who receive a commission — largely drove the growth of the market.But that has changed. While adviser-sold plans accounted for 60 percent of 529 savings plan industry assets in 2006, they accounted for only 51 percent of assets as of the end of 2010, according to Financial Research Corporation.VICTIM OF SUCCESSTo some extent, adviser-sold 529 plans are a victim of their own success, industry officials said. As the industry has raised awareness about how these programs work, more investors feel comfortable investing in them directly.States also spend more of their marketing dollars promoting direct-sold plans, which may be another reason that market is growing, said Laura Lutton, a Morningstar Inc. analyst.What’s more, a growing number of advisers are telling clients to invest in their in-state direct-sold plans, forgoing any commission or fee.Twenty-three percent of advisers recently surveyed by Financial Research Corp said they always recommend their in-state direct 529 plans for clients, while 49 percent said they sometimes do.Direct-sold plans are less expensive than adviser-sold plans, said Paul Curley, a 529 analyst at FRC. The average fee for an adviser-sold plan is 1.14 percent. Direct plans, average 0.58 percent, according to FRC.Robert Oliver, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based fee-only adviser, always directs his clients to the in-state plan, which costs 0.35 percent and offers a tax break to residents. But he still meets prospective clients who have been sold out-of-state plans by other brokers, he said.”A lot of clients are being sold plans because the adviser gets a commission off of them,” Oliver said.REGULATORY CHANGESGiven the regulatory landscape, that is likely to change, Hurley said.The securities industry expects the SEC to soon propose rules that would harmonize legal standards of care between brokers and registered investment advisers. That would mean that brokers could be required to act as fiduciaries, acting in the best interest of a client, a standard that RIAs already follow.One change that would bring: Advisers selling out-of-state plans, when their clients can get a tax deduction for the in-state option, would have to provide even more disclosures about why they are choosing an out-of-state plan for the client, Hurley said.But advisers won’t be shut out entirely, experts say.”When we talk to account holders, the top three ways that investors learn about 529 plans is word of mouth, advisers and the Internet,” said Joan Marshall, chair of the College Savings Plan Network and executive director of Maryland’s college savings plan. “A lot of people really want the assistance of advisers when making these decisions.”

Federal officials have been trying to broker a settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers - Ally Financial Inc, Bank of America , Citigroup Inc , J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co — the Journal said.It is not clear how many borrowers would qualify for help, the paper added.Officials are pushing for a plan in a bid to break a legal impasse with big banks over alleged foreclosure abuses and ease problems in the housing market, the paper said.Discussions are still fluid and any final outcome is uncertain. Talks between government officials and the banks are expected to continue this week, the newspaper said.JPMorgan declined to comment to Reuters on the Journal report. Reuters could not immediately reach the other four lenders for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Adiantou que instalou 604 megawatts (MW) nos nove meses deste ano, dos quais 435 MW na Europa, 70 MW no Brasil e 99 MW nos EUA.Nos últimos 12 meses, a sua capacidade eólica instalada aumentou 953 MW, o que representa um aumento de 15 pct face ao período homólogo.Adiantou que o factor de utilização — load factor — nos primeiros nove meses de 2011, foi de 28 pct, igual ao do período homólogo do ano passado.Os resultados dos nove meses de 2011 da EDPR serão publicados a 26 de Outubro, antes da abertura de bolsa.Negociaram-se 419.026 acções da EDPR, a ganharem 0,6 pct para 4,225 euros. (Filipa Cunha Lima; Editado por Sérgio Gonçalves)

If push comes to shove and Japan runs into difficulties finding buyers for its low-yielding government bonds, a little debt monetisation — a dirty word for central banks — would not be a bad thing. Tomoya Masanao, managing director and head of Japan portfolio management at PIMCO, told the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit that if private investors are not willing to buy JGBs, then the central bank should fill the breach. “If the Japanese private sector does not have enough ability to fund the government, it’s natural that the central bank should step in,” Masanao said. Such a move would weaken the currency, and that would be a positive for an economy that is now grappling with a strong yen on top of the many other economic challenges it is facing. For now, Japan faces no such threat of private investors being unable to lend the government a hand. As Masanao noted, Japanese corporations and households tend to save even more money when the fiscal deficit rises — as is almost certain as government reconstruction spending kicks in after the massive March 11 earthquake, tsnuami and nuclear scare. Indeed, a chart below shows the remarkably strong relationship between government borrowing and household savings over the years. Benchmark Japanese government bond yields are hovering near 1 percent and have only breached the 2 percent threshold twice since falling below that level in 1997. As the population ages, household savings rates have fallen. But with household financial assets at $18.5 trillion — and a little more than half of that kept in cash and low-yielding bank deposits — the supply of funds heading into JGBs remains ample, even with debt set to surpass 200 percent of Japan’s $6 trillion GDP this year. With the euro zone debt crisis raging more than a year later, the question of whether Japan faces its own debt crisis has been hotly debated. Still, the trigger for any Japan debt crisis remains far off and will be of a much different nature than Europe’s troubles. Beyond its savings, Japan enjoys steady trade surpluses (despite the record deficit coming out of the disaster), and for that reason does not rely on foreign investors . Of course, the Bank of Japan already buys a hefty chunk of government bonds, even while arguing this does not equate to monetisation and fighting against any pressure to monetise. Only when Japan’s current account balance flips into deficit will warning signs start to flash. If Japan has to lean more on the kindness of foreign investors, then sustaining such a heavy debt becomes a dicier prospect. What debt monetisation won’t do is improve Japan’s potential growth rate. And that’s why Masanao thinks public debate is urgent,  not just on how the debt will be dealt with over the longer term, but whether Japan is willing to take steps to boost growth and end the steady deflation that has gripped the economy for years. As Masanao says, the special factors that have allowed Japan to support such a mountain of debt are fading. “The mechanism that has worked to date may be gradually crumbling.”

European Union regulators will formally object to the proposed merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext this week, two sources with knowledge of the case said, which may force the companies to offer concessions to ease competition concerns. Private equity firms see only limited scope to invest in Europe’s under-capitalized banks, as they could run the risk of losing their shirts and face political resistance. Europe’s food and consumer goods groups are on the verge of a new wave on acquisition activity as they exploit exposure to emerging markets to protect themselves from the looming downturn. The NYT does a back-of-the-envelope valuation of Yahoo’s parts. Here’s a third-quarter review of the global investment banking sector in PDF format. For your morning distraction, The Reformed Broker’s  spooky economic blog may give you chills, seriously.