The firm's move deeper into the asset-management business comes as more Japanese financial institutions seek to tap the huge amounts of household money sitting in low-interest savings accounts, but often lack the expertise in offering them attractive products.

WSJ: Japan's Orix Buys Dutch Asset Manager

"The SEC should never have allowed the ICI to claim it represents the interests of mutual fund investors, because it's a blatant falsehood, " says Edward Siedle of Benchmark Financial Services, a firm that investigates money management wrongdoing.

FORBES: Insult And Injury