Larry Barrett

Trust and customer service are the most important reasons clients opt to work with registered investment advisors, according to TD Ameritrade's latest RIA survey.

First Republic Bank this week named 19-year industry veteran Gregg Palmer as managing director and wealth advisor for its San Diego office.

Charles Schwab Corp. increased its total client assets under management to more than $1.65 trillion, and it brought in $9.9 billion of net new assets in July alone.

Annuity fee income at bank holding companies shot up 28.4% in the first quarter, to more than $748.2 million, according to the Michael White-ABIA Bank Annuity Fee Income Report.

DWS Investments, the retail mutual funds arm of Deutsche Bank, named Michael J. Woods as regional head and chief executive, adding those titles and responsibilities to his current role as U.S. head of distributions.

At time when more Americans than ever are petrified they won't have enough set aside for retirement, a Limra International Inc. survey suggests that peace of mind could be just a phone call away.

Despite the steady, upward trajectory of the stock market and declining unemployment figures in most states, middle-class Americans report they're less secure about their personal finances now than they've been more than two years, according to the results of a survey from First Command Financial Services.

The popularity of hedge funds, particularly among institutional investors, propelled total assets under management to a record $2 trillion in the first quarter, according to a report from Hedge Fund Research Inc. of Chicago.

The stunning decline in property values across most of the country, a prolonged recession and plain-old negligence and shortsightedness on the part of American workers have combined to make retirement more a fantasy than a reality for tens of millions of baby boomers.

Dynasty Financial Partners last week detailed an ambitious plan to expand its adviser network to between 100 and 150 top-tier registered investment advisers with total assets under management of around $50 billion during the next five years.

In the wake of the economic downturn that pummeled markets and investor accounts, one would think financial advisers would have learned that forging and maintaining extensive contact with their clients is critical to keeping and finding new business.

Brokers and financial advisers looking to make more money and have more control over the type of clients they serve and the investments they recommend continued to flood the independent channel at a swift pace in 2010, according to a broker and adviser sentiment index survey conducted on behalf of Fidelity Investments.

John Paulson, founder of the hedge fund giant Paulson & Co., earned a record $4.9 billion in 2010 overseeing a fund that exited the year with more than $36 billion under management, according to a new survey from AR Magazine.

Hedge funds around the world are ramping up their information technology spending to provide better service to the growing mix of institutional clients they serve and to ensure they're well prepared to adequately meet increasing compliance and regulatory requirements.

The United States and Singapore were co-valedictorians in a Morningstar report released Friday, with both countries earning an A on a report card that measured the overall experience of mutual fund investors based on a variety of factors, including taxation, transparency and investor protection.

Financial institutions of all sizes are finally realizing that a full-service website, complete with interactive marketing and registration functionality, will help them increase total assets under management.

Fidelity Investments said Roth individual retirement account conversions rose fourfold at the firm in 2010 as investors became better informed about minimizing their tax obligations in retirement — with some help from Fidelity financial advisers.

Whether they call it "aggressive recruiting" or poaching, financial services companies across the board are predicting the practice will intensify in the coming year, forcing many of them to sweeten their offers and actively seek out skilled professionals both within and outside the industry.

Tighter regulation has been a major factor behind the success of Canadian asset managers, a survey says, which is a bullish sign for a U.S. industry about to go through a similar experience.

The sudden departure last week of Deborah McWhinney from her role as head of Citigroup's personal banking and wealth management unit raises many questions.