Investors pulled another $2.5 billion in assets from Putnam Investments in April. Since January, investors have extracted more from Putnam than any other Us fund manager. In the first four months of the year, they pulled out $10.4 billion, Financial Research Corp. It means T. Rowe Price has overtaken Putnam as the sixth largest US fund manager.In December, PIMCO replaced Putnam as number five in the league table.
Putnam was especially hard hit by the market timing scandal that has tarnished the $7.6 trillion US mutual fund industry. Last month, the firm $110 million to settle charges of securities fraud. Some observers say the continuing loss of assts means the company has failed to change perceptions, despite changes in management and procedures, and the payment of a huge fine.
Mutual fund companies that avoided the scandal took in billions of dollars last month. No. 3 fund firm American Funds took in $8.7 billion, FRC said. The Vanguard Group pulled in $4.7 billion, while Fidelity Investments took in $2.5 billion.