Matt Ackermann

Commonwealth Management Partners of Greenwich, Conn., has started a registered investment advisory and wealth management firm.

Confidence among millionaires and affluent investors rose in September, according to Spectrem Group.

Pershing, a unit of Bank of New York Mellon, announced Wednesday that it added Franklin Templeton Investments and MFS Investment Management to its FundVest no-transaction-fee mutual fund platform.

Seeking to increase sales through banks and credit unions in two key regions, VantisLife Insurance Co. says it plans to hire executives in the Midwest and California next year.

Barclays Global Investors' iShares unit, the largest provider of exchange-traded funds, launched an emerging-markets Eastern Europe ETF.

Glenmede Trust Co. in Philadelphia has announced that it will open a New York City office and that it hired Glenn Switzer to be a senior member of its New York team as a first vice president and portfolio manager.

Symetra Financial Corp. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of common stock.

Cullen Capital Management in New York introduced the Cullen Small Cap Value Fund on Tuesday.

RBC Wealth Management's international arm in London has announced the promotion of Matthew Yong and Frank Mu to president and chief executive officer, respectively, of its Asian operations.

American Century Investments has launched a collective investment trust program. Also known as commingled or collective funds, collective investment trusts are tax-exempt, pooled investment vehicles designed exclusively for qualified plans, including 401(k) plans, as well as for certain types of government plans.

Provident Financial Services Inc. has hired Alan D. Segars as vice president and investment management officer of its wealth management group.

Vanguard Group has named F. Joseph Loughrey to its board of directors and to the board of trustees of each of the Valley Forge, Pa., investment company's mutual funds.

Northern Trust Corp. announced that it has promoted Patrick Everett to Dallas regional president.

Touchstone Investments of Cincinnati announced that it has introduced 10 mutual funds.

Grail Advisors of San Francisco has launched four actively managed exchange-traded funds.

Citizens Financial Group Inc., the Providence, R.I., arm of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, says it will aggressively expand its wealth management businesses as some competitors contract.

Responding to the economic crisis has meant lots of meetings and not much sleep for Mary Callahan Erdoes, the chief executive officer of global wealth management for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

When Diane Thormodsgard began working in the wealth management business, she admits she didn't even know what corporate trust was.

Maureen Miskovic started out at the London Metal Exchange as the silver crisis was cresting. She was at the London Stock Exchange for the Mexican peso crisis and Barings Bank's implosion. And she became the chief risk officer at Lehman Brothers just in time for the run on its stock in 1998.

This mentality has helped beef up the credit union's investment business, and it is a cross-selling example that even big companies could learn from.