Target date funds are getting better – and that’s good news, because they’re also becoming the 800-pound gorilla of the workplace retirement saving scene. The use of these funds, which invest in a mix of assets with the aim of reducing equity exposure as participants approach retirement, has accelerated sharply in recent years, due in large measure to the growth of auto-enrollment options in workplace plans. Brightscope/Target Date Analytics reports that the TDFs account for 10 percent of total invested assets in retirement plans, a figure that is expected to hit over 28 percent by 2020. And Vanguard reported recently that 79 percent of the plans it administers offered TDFs last year, up from 13 percent as recently as 2004. Likewise, 42 percent of Vanguard plan participants used TDFs last year, up from just 2 percent in 2004. But they’ve been criticized for maintaining levels of equity exposure too high for older investors, and for steep fees. Yet a study released Tuesday by Brightscope and Target Date Analytics reveals target date funds are improving their performance in both of those areas. The study finds that the industry is moving toward a more conservative posture on the critical issue of fund series glidepaths – that is, the year targeted for the lowest exposure to equities. “Funds can take very different approaches to the glidepath,” explained Brooks Herman, Brightscope’s head of research. “Sometimes the landing date can be many years past the target date in the fund name.” The Brightscope/Target Data Analytics study finds that 40 percent of TDFs are now using a “to versus through” approach to glidepath, up from 30 percent as recently as 2007. That means the most conservative asset allocation is reached in the year of the fund series name. “We like that, because it’s truth in advertising,” Herman said. “As an investor, I know what I’m getting.” The study’s glidepath findings are consistent with an analysis by Morningstar for Reuters Money back in August, which found that losses during the summer market meltdown were far less severe for 2010 and 2015 TDF series than losses were for those funds in 2008. The report also finds that fees have fallen in the past year, but remain “too high.” While institutional funds had average expense ratios of 75 basis points, moves by Vanguard to introduce TDFs that charge an industry-low 18 basis points prompted Fidelity Investments and TIAA-CREF to respond by introducing funds with expense ratios of 19 basis points. “That is a real reaction to what Vanguard is doing,” Herman said. The Brightscope and Target Date Analytics study grades target date series on five criteria, including performance, fees, risk, organizational structure and strategy. Researchers analyzed 48 fund series, but graded only 38; those were the fund series old enough to have three years of operating performance data. The top-rated fund family is American Century Investments’ Livestrong Portfolios. Four other fund series received an “A” grade: Wells Fargo Advantage, MFS Lifetime, J.P. Morgan SmartRetirement and Vanguard Target Retirement. Another seven funds received “B” grades. Details of the Brightscope/Target Date Analytics report — “Popping the Hood” — won’t be released generally, as it is being marketed to plan sponsors, asset managers and advisers. The researchers also are happy to sell it to anyone else willing to pay its $1,200 price tag.

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.

“The meeting noted that due to the rapid development of microblogs, we must strengthen management to address problems arising as microblogs develop,” the official Xinhua news agency report said.China’s microbloggers showed their potency in a string of recent official scandals, particularly an online uproar in the wake of a high-speed bullet train crash in July that killed 40 people. Microbloggers led the charge in challenging rail officials’ evasive accounts of the disaster.Chinese state media have demanded that Internet companies, regulators and police do more to cleanse websites of “toxic rumours”.China currently heavily filters the Internet, and blocks popular foreign sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.The Xinhau report said people who spread “fabricated rumours,” pornography, and who “pollute the Internet environment”, must be investigated according to the law.”Make microblogs a new platform that is positive and healthy and for expressing oneself in a civilised and rational way,” it said, adding that influential bloggers should develop a stronger “sense of social responsibility.”The State Internet Information Office is a newly formed agency intended to strengthen government regulation of Internet content, which is also monitored by several other, sometimes rival agencies.The meeting was presided over by Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, the government’s propaganda and information arm.Sina and other Chinese microblog operators already deploy technicians and software to monitor content, and block and remove comment deemed unacceptable, especially about protests, official scandals and party leaders.

“The meeting noted that due to the rapid development of microblogs, we must strengthen management to address problems arising as microblogs develop,” the official Xinhua news agency report said.China’s microbloggers showed their potency in a string of recent official scandals, particularly an online uproar in the wake of a high-speed bullet train crash in July that killed 40 people. Microbloggers led the charge in challenging rail officials’ evasive accounts of the disaster.Chinese state media have demanded that Internet companies, regulators and police do more to cleanse websites of “toxic rumours”.China currently heavily filters the Internet, and blocks popular foreign sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.The Xinhau report said people who spread “fabricated rumours,” pornography, and who “pollute the Internet environment”, must be investigated according to the law.”Make microblogs a new platform that is positive and healthy and for expressing oneself in a civilised and rational way,” it said, adding that influential bloggers should develop a stronger “sense of social responsibility.”The State Internet Information Office is a newly formed agency intended to strengthen government regulation of Internet content, which is also monitored by several other, sometimes rival agencies.The meeting was presided over by Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, the government’s propaganda and information arm.Sina and other Chinese microblog operators already deploy technicians and software to monitor content, and block and remove comment deemed unacceptable, especially about protests, official scandals and party leaders.

As the prosecution neared the end of its case in the third week of the involuntary manslaughter trial, the two doctors testified that even if Jackson gave himself propofol, Murray would still be responsible for his death.”It’s like leaving a baby that’s sleeping on your kitchen countertop,” Dr. Alon Steinberg told jurors. “You look at it and it’s probably going to be OK and you’re just going to go grab some diapers or go to the bathroom but you would never do it.”Murray, who denies involuntary manslaughter, has admitted giving Jackson a relatively small dose of 25 milligrams of propofol — which is normally used in surgery — as a sleep aid on June 25, 2009.But the defense has claimed in previous court hearings that Jackson, 50, somehow caused his own death either by swallowing or self-administering an extra, fatal dose when Murray was out of the room.With the jury temporarily out of the courtroom on Wednesday, Murray’s attorneys and prosecutors described medical studies to the judge that show propofol has no major effects on a person when swallowed.”We are not going to assert at any point in time in this trial that Michael Jackson orally ingested propofol,” Murray’s attorney J. Michael Flanagan told the judge.Murray’s lawyers have however pressed their argument that Jackson gave himself the propofol with an injection. They are expected to begin laying out the defense case in full, possibly next week.Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.JACKSON COULD HAVE LIVEDSteinberg, who reviewed Murray’s treatment of Jackson for the California medical board, said Murray made six “extreme deviations” from the generally accepted standard of care.Those were: Administering propofol for sleep when it is meant for anesthesia; giving it at a home instead of a medical facility; not being prepared for an emergency; not taking the proper measures to revive Jackson; delaying calling for an ambulance; and not keeping proper records.”If these deviations hadn’t happened, Mr. Jackson would have been alive,” Steinberg said. “I’ve never heard of anyone using propofol for sleep except Dr. Murray,” he added later under a lengthy cross-examination.When Steinberg described Murray’s bungled attempts to revive Jackson — including performing chest compressions even though the singer’s heart was apparently still beating — the pop star’s brother Randy Jackson held his head in his hands.Dr. Nader Kamangar, a hospital specialist in pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine, reached a similar conclusion as Steinberg.He testified that Murray’s mistakes included leaving Jackson alone after sedating him with drugs.”Fundamental basics of the Hippocratic oath, or the ethics and morals that physicians swear by, is to do what’s right for your patient, not to abandon your patient,” Kamangar said.Steinberg, like Murray, is a cardiologist. He said he based his withering critique of Murray on the physician’s own account to detectives. Steinberg said a transcript of that interview convinced him Murray put Jackson on an intravenous drip of propofol after injecting him with the drug.Murray’s attorney challenged that finding, but Steinberg was unmoved. “Can we agree to disagree?” Steinberg responded.

Separately, the neutral Alpine country, aligning itself with European Union sanctions on Syria, has blocked 45 million francs tied to President Bashar al-Assad and his regime, said Valentin Zellweger, head of international law at the foreign ministry.The Swiss federal cabinet moved swiftly at the start of the Arab spring in January and February, blocking suspicious funds stashed in Swiss coffers to ensure they were not moved or used to fund Muammar Gaddafi’s armed attacks on his people, he said.Seized assets currently include 300 million francs linked to the deposed Libyan leader, 410 million Swiss francs tied to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and 60 million francs to former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, he said.Switzerland has already unfrozen 385 million francs and made them available to the new Libyan authorities for the Libyan National Oil Company and Libya Investment Authority, he added.”The main objective remains quick restitution of funds to Tunisia and Egypt. We are putting all of our efforts into contributing all we can,” Zellweger told a news conference.But 25 years of experience tracing illicit Swiss funds of dictators, including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Sani Abacha of Nigeria, has shown that lawyers can lodge appeals all the way up to the highest Swiss court, he said.One-third of the $1.5 billion in assets held offshore by Middle Eastern and African rulers is in Switzerland, some of it illegally obtained, according to the Swiss-based research firm MyPrivateBanking.Switzerland has tightened money-laundering laws in recent years and requires the country’s 7,000 financial institutions to enforce “know your customer” rules, Zellweger said. These also cover so-called “politically-exposed persons” or PEPs, the Swiss term encompassing leaders, ministers and military brass.”In terms of money restituted globally by all financial centers, of the total 4-5 billion francs estimated by the World Bank, one-third comes from Swiss banks. It’s an objective fact, Switzerland is the country that has restituted the most money and this is recognized by a growing number of experts,” Zellweger said. “Switzerland is a leader in this domain.”“Swiss banks can of course have relations with ‘politically exposed persons’. If Madame (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel came to a bank and asked to open an account, she would be considered a PEP but the bank would have an obligation of due diligence, to review the profile of Madame Merkel regularly.”“ENDEMIC CORRUPTION”Swiss authorities last week formally accepted a request from Tunisia for judicial assistance in recovering 60 million francs after rejecting the initial request as insufficient.”Several days ago the Swiss federal justice office accepted the request for assistance from Tunisia. We hope it will bear fruit as quickly as possible. It is an important step that we haven’t crossed yet with Egypt, where there is cooperation but for the bulk of its case we’re not there yet,” Zellweger said.”Endemic corruption, the Tunisian system that is being discovered now, clearly resembles a certain form of criminal organization, to line the pockets of people in power,” he said.Switzerland has sent financial and legal experts to fledging democracies in North Africa and the Middle East to establish a “relationship of confidence” and help their authorities unlock the web of financial transactions, he said.”In Tunisia, there have not been many criminal investigations for corruption in the last 30 years. These crimes are enormously complex. Some countries don’t have such savoir-faire and it is extremely expensive. It has to be built up,” said Zellweger.