Wealth management

Morgan Stanley, one of the largest sponsors of managed accounts in the United States, has outsourced its middle- and back-office services for its managed account platform Alphas.

Conflicting numbers from the Phoenix Marketing International bimonthly survey of affluent and high-net-worth investors suggest that while respondents are gloomier than usual about the economy's prospects, they're also investing more in the market than they were.

Global bond and equity investors are no longer relying on the United States to power world economic growth, said presenters at a Natixis Global Asset Management press luncheon.

Two weeks after announcing an adviser-sold 529 college savings partnership with the state of Nevada, Putnam Investments said it would expand sales of the Putnam 529 for America program nationally.

Still reeling from the economic turmoil of the past three years, many pre-retirees are pessimistic about their financial future, including when they will be able to retire.

Center State Bank of Florida NA in Winter Haven seems to have entered the correspondent banking business at the perfect time.

Over the past two years, the Chicago-based business has made inroads servicing asset managers at home and abroad.

BlackRock, John Hancock Mutual Funds and Fidelity Investments topped Kasina's list this year of best websites for advisers.

Advisers who want to forge a tighter bond with affluent black American clients — or potential ones — should understand cultural differences, say officials at Northern Trust, which recently released its second biannual survey on the issue.

The stake purchase fits within Credit Suisse's asset management strategy of focusing on alternative investments, asset allocation and emerging markets business globally, Singh said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. led in global investment banking revenue in the first nine months of the year, with $3.3 billion and a 7.7% market share, according to preliminary data from Dealogic.

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Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market rose to its highest level in six months in September, according to the Advisor Confidence Index from Rydex/SGI. The measure had fallen to its lowest level in 16 months in August.

Banks' sales of variable annuities struggled in July along with the stock market, falling to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion in June, according to the Kehrer-Jackson Monthly Annuity Sales Survey, released late last month. Fixed annuities held their ground at $1.5 billion in sales, but wobbly VA sales brought total annuity sales at banks down by 7%.

Hedge funds turned in better performance numbers for August than the major equity indexes did, and it's because they made the most of a general sell-off of risky assets on the broader equity and bond markets, according to a preliminary roundup by Morningstar.

The annuity industry, with its battered reputation, seemed to have found a powerful ally in President Obama's administration, when the Middle Class Task Force issued a report in January saying the executive branch would work to promote the availability of annuities and other forms of guaranteed income.

Trilogy, which had $12 billion of assets under management as of June 30, specializes in emerging- and global markets strategies.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is proposing all-public arbitration panels in a rule it is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission next month, following a two-year pilot program.

A group of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. traders is being pursued by at least three competing firms, including Avenue Capital Group, as the investment bank prepares to break up the unit, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

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