Wealth management

Investors are buying more equity-indexed annuities, contracts that earn money based on the performance of stock indexes and don't decline in value if held to maturity.

Investors established a record for withdrawals from municipal bond mutual funds last week as headline risk continued to chase people from state and local government debt funds.

The SEC said there's a need for a uniform fiduciary standard "no less stringent than currently applied to investment advisers," according to the staff report delivered to Congress.

The Vanguard Emerging Market ETF became the third-largest U.S. exchange-traded fund last week, surpassing a rival BlackRock Inc. fund that just a year ago was twice as big and adding to evidence that investors are migrating to the cheapest offerings.

Private wealth investors in retail municipal bonds have remained calm the past few months even as mutual funds have dumped state and local government debt by the truckload.

Morgan Stanley reported a 35% rise in fourth-quarter earnings on record revenue from its brokerage operations. Fixed-income trading revenue was the lowest in two years.

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BMO Capital Markets is staging a major U.S. expansion to gain market share at the expense of banking firms that were hurt by the financial crisis.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and State Street Corp., two trust banks reporting fourth-quarter periods Wednesday, showcased that their services remained in high demand, while third competitor Northern Trust Corp. failed to keep up with falling interest income.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest bank, said in a statement it expects TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. to contribute C$48 million (US$49 million) to its wealth-management division's first-quarter net income.

The number of health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements increased in 2010, but average individual account balances fell, according a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Financial advisers are more optimistic about the economy than their clients are, according to a survey by SEI.

As the target-date fund industry works to raise its standing with investors, a recent Vanguard survey has found that much of the job may already be done.

Umpqua Bank wanted to offer trust services, but like many banks, it was wary of the expense of a major new initiative.

The relationship between retail investors and those who advise them may be rewritten after the Securities and Exchange Commission releases three studies on the regulation of brokers and advisers.

The Obama administration says U.S. banks should disclose to the Internal Revenue Service bank accounts owned by foreigners, resurrecting a Clinton-era proposal that was opposed by banking groups and Republicans.

Most muni bond exchange-traded funds performed noticeably worse in the fourth quarter than the indexes they were designed to track.

There are several reasons for the long-term performance success of Vanguard Group Inc.'s GNMA Fund Investor Shares, but one of the simplest is this: It doesn't have high fees weighing down its returns.

Morgan Stanley, owner of the world's biggest brokerage, is struggling to prove its new model works after failing to ride a surge in equity and bond markets.

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