Wealth management

If the Financial Stability Oversight Council was hoping for any kind of consensus on whether and how it should regulate asset management companies, the feedback it has received on its request for comment is likely disappointing. Asset management companies, their representatives and public interest groups presented widely divergent visions about what, if anything, the council should do.

Ultra-high-net-worth investors can have complex needs. That's why family historians and psychologists are on staff at Abbot Downing, the wealth-management business founded by Wells Fargo to serve investors with $50 million or more.

Digit, a startup in San Francisco targeting millennials, has launched a service that crunches checking account data to determine daily amounts to automatically transfer into users' savings accounts. Its debut points to how personal financial management services are growing up to do the work on the consumer's behalf.

It's easy for banks to spin their wheels on local reinvestment, financial education and other efforts to help underserved communities. To make outreach programs successful, bank executives need to carefully vet nonprofit and other partners, listen to their employees on the front lines and reflect on their own reasons for getting into banking.

Anthony DeChellis, the former head of Credit Suisse's Private Banking Americas division, has been named president of Jerusalem-based crowdfunding startup OurCrowd.

Wealthy investors from China and the Middle East are using Citi's private bank to acquire land and fracking rights as vulnerable owners consider emergency liquidations.

Branch closings draw big headlines, but several large banks are entering new markets — or bulking up in underrepresented cities — by adding branches and hiring lenders. Bank of America, for instance, is planning a retail push in Denver and Minneapolis.

Royal Bank of Canada's deal for City National showed that buyers will pay up for banks that cater to the wealthy. That's why First Republic, Boston Private and Signature Bank may soon find themselves facing offers they can't refuse.

Bank of New York Mellon, the custody bank under pressure from activist investor Trian Fund Management to lift its share price, declined the most in nine months after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that missed analysts' estimates.

State Street said fourth-quarter profit fell 3.7% as expenses rose faster than revenue.

KeyCorp in Cleveland beat earnings forecasts on the strength of increased fee income.

Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank, said profit tumbled 86 %, missing analysts' estimates after year-end trading slumped more than forecast.

Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, said fourth-quarter profit fell 11% as revenue from fixed-income trading declined.

Capital One acquired Level Money, a startup with a budgeting app for consumers, on Monday. Level Money has approximately 700,000 users and claims to have helped users manage a total of $12 billion during its brief existence.

Even is building a mobile money-management service for baristas, Lyft drivers, freelancers and others with unpredictable incomes. For $5 a week, users can draw advances on paychecks during rough patches.

Investors' demands that the country's biggest bank produce better earnings amid costlier regulations are prompting fresh cries to break up JPMorgan Chase.

Smaller banks are eager to launch new businesses to increase noninterest income. But a new survey indicates that many are struggling to generate returns from such endeavors.

Moven has modified its personal financial management app to work on a smartwatch. Will millennials be more likely to heed spending advice delivered to their wrists rather than their phones?

City National Bank in Los Angeles is launching a new online magazine with a goal of driving more traffic to its website.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country's second-largest lender by assets, said quarterly profit rose 11 percent on gains in Canadian banking and wealth management.