Investment Instruments

A report released June 29 by the Investment Company Institute found that 401(k) participants paid lower expense ratios on stock mutual funds in 2010 than in 2009.

Corporate pensions’ funded status improved by $25 billion in June, according to Milliman Inc., on rising interest rates.

Bank of America Corp. has reached a deal to sell its Balboa Life Insurance Co. unit to Securian Financial Group Inc. a privately held insurance and retirement planning company based in St. Paul, Minn.

Defined benefits and pension plans have fallen by the wayside, forcing plan sponsors to give employees a new kind of protection while still protecting the company against high costs. The answer? Annuities.

MassMutual recently announced three appointments for key positions at the company.

The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds decreased by $70.7 billion, or 0.6 percent, to $12.403 trillion in May, according to the Investment Company Institute’s official survey of the mutual fund industry.