Wealth management

Bank of America Corp., which lost a financial adviser with $5.9 billion in client assets to a rival in December, told some workers to sign agreements forcing them to go on reduced-pay "garden leave" if they plan to resign.

The purchase would boost the assets under management of its Bryn Mawr Trust unit's wealth-management division by about $1.1 billion.

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.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will shut its Global Macro Proprietary Trading desk, a person with knowledge of the decision said.

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John Hancock Funds has announced an advertising campaign that showcases its investment management expertise and trusted brand.

Technology is changing some of the tenets of client recruitment in the wealth management industry, even when the targets are high-net-worth prospects with complex financial lives.

Once slow to switch financial service providers, ultrarich families have been replacing vendors that provide support services at a quick pace since the financial crisis.

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Deborah McWhinney, the head of Citigroup's flagging personal banking and wealth management group, is leaving her post after a tumultuous two-year run in which she attempted to makeover the nation's third-largest bank following the spin-off of its Smith Barney brokerage unit in 2009.

Charles Schwab Corp. has reported significant January increases in total client assets and new brokerage accounts, the latest in a string of positive developments for both the company and the financial services industry as a whole.

With $4 billion of assets under management, the financial advisory firm James E. Bashaw & Co. does not really need to reach out to new kinds of clients.

Many investors are pouring money into managed futures funds — to the tune of billions last year alone. They have their reasons: Impressive returns through the financial crisis, lower minimum investments and returns that almost never mimic the stock markets'.

Banks reported record insurance brokerage fee income in the first nine months of last year, and part of the reason appears to be that they pushed harder for fee income as other fees came under pressure.

What the Securities and Exchange Commission wants from a new and universal fiduciary standard for the retail investment community, and what will most likely materialize, figure to be two different stories.

For large investment houses and independent financial advisers, this new crop of potential clients — and the commissions they generate — is as elusive as it is exclusive.

Commonwealth Financial Network, which boasts one of the largest fleets of high-end independent advisers, is instituting new rewards for enriching the firm.

The niche-oriented New York company attributes much of the success to investor demand for two of its specialties: gold and hard assets.

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