Wealth management

Most American households are confident that their post-crash austerity is paying off, according to a survey by the public relations firm Weber Shandwick and KRC Research.

Fixed-income funds held their siren-like draw for investors, contributing largely to long-term mutual funds' $16.8 billion in inflows in August, according to a Morningstar analysis.

Registered investment advisers' assets under management rose 28%, to an average of $174 million in 2009, up from $136 million in 2008, the 2010 Rydex/SGI AdvisorBenchmarking Annual Study showed.

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Morgan Stanley has announced its naming of Paul Price to head its investment management international sales.

UBS' Americas wealth management division continued its hiring spree, adding million-dollar producers in New York and Houston.

Advisers are turning to annuities, using tactical asset allocation and continuing to move to fee-based business models, as they cope with the effects that the sluggish economic climate is having on their practices, according to findings from the latest Financial Professional Outlook from Russell Investments.

The asset management industry felt the ground shift under its feet during the recent financial crisis, but signs of resiliency persist, according to a new benchmarking study by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm.

Atlantic Trust, a private wealth management firm in Atlanta, has appointed Logan Allin to the newly created post of head of strategy and client experience.

Barclays PLC's wealth management unit on Monday named Chris Williams director and regional manager of its Chicago office.

Invesco PowerShares has contracted for exclusive rights to four Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. indexes to offer specialized exchange-traded funds in real estate, financial services and property and casualty insurance.

Establishing a presence in China is slow going, but Northern Trust Corp., which recently won approval for a Beijing branch office, believes the payoff will be worth the wait.

UBS AG's wealth management unit for the Americas plans to open a Manhattan office, according to an internal memo issued Thursday.

Boston Private Financial Holdings, a national umbrella company providing private banking and wealth management services through affiliates, has promoted Mark Thompson to be CEO of its private banking group.

Thanks to record low Aa corporate discount bond rates and declines in domestic and international stocks, U.S. corporate pension plans saw their funding status dip more than 5.6 percentage points, to 71.3%, in August, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced Friday that it had named Jim O'Neill chairman.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was founded in 1869 but only last week did it begin targeting the mainstream retail-buyer base for municipal bonds.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it has appointed Jim O'Neill chairman of its $800 billion asset-management arm, a newly created role designed to leverage his "global perspective on world markets."

Proprietary traders within Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s U.S. principal strategies equities unit are in talks to join other firms, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has agreed to a fine of nearly 20 million pounds ($30.7 million) as part of an investigation by the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority that began shortly after U.S. regulators accused the firm in April of fraud.