Franklin Templeton Investments

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Franklin Resources Inc. NYSE: BEN is an investment firm originally founded in New York in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN as in Benjamin Franklin, whom founder Charlie Johnson admired. In 1973 the headquarters moved from New York to San Mateo, California.

1 History
2 Mutual funds
3 Legal settlements in 2004
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

In October 1992, Franklin completed the acquisition of Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd., leading to the common name Franklin Templeton. In November 1996, Heine Securities Corporation, known for the Mutual Series of funds, merged into the Franklin Templeton complex. In October 2000, Franklin acquired Bissett Funds to increase its Canadian presence, and Bissett remains a key brand from Franklin in the Canadian market. The Fiduciary Trust Company was acquired by Franklin Templeton in April 2001.

Fiduciary Trust Company, a member of the Franklin family, maintained an office of over 650 employees in Two World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.^[1]

The firm specializes in conservatively managed mutual funds. It offers products under the Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series and Fiduciary brand names. Like other large investment companies, the firm offers a wide variety of funds but is traditionally best known for bond funds under the Franklin brand, international funds under the Templeton brand, and value funds under the Mutual Series brand.

As of January 31, 2007, Franklin Templeton managed over $560 billion in assets worldwide.^[2]

The company sponsors a tennis tournament, the Franklin Templeton Classic.

[edit] Mutual funds

Franklin Templeton has over 100 different open-ended mutual funds and 7 closed-end funds in the fund family. Included in these are 36 state and federal tax free income funds, an area of investment pioneered by Franklin.

The Franklin Income Fund (FKINX) is a mutual fund in Morningstar's "conservative allocation" category and "large/value" style box. The fund was created in 1948 and has paid uninterrupted dividends for 60 years. The Franklin Income Fund is constructed primarily of bonds and dividend-paying stocks.

Other prominent funds in the fund family include the Templeton Growth Fund (opened 1954), the Mutual Shares fund (opened 1949), and the Mutual Discovery fund (opened 1992).

[edit] Legal settlements in 2004

In 2004, Franklin Templeton paid fines to the State of California, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle issues regarding questionable practices including market timing, dogging and "shelf-space" payments.