Wealth management

Ridgemont Equity Partners, a Charlotte financial sponsor, has been an active buyer this summer of companies worth $10 million to $100 million, and it has plenty of company.

Retirement plan participants are calming down, according to a Massachusetts Mutual analysis of its plans.

The unit investment trust has quietly blossomed into the dominant investing vehicle for Build America Bonds, the taxable municipal debt created under last year's stimulus legislation.

The staunchest opposition to a universal fiduciary standard that would put clients' interests first isn't from securities brokers, it's from insurance agents.

Despite low rates, bank sales of annuities held steady in June, at $2.8 billion, the Kehrer-Limra consulting firm says.

Scout Investment Advisors, a Kansas City, Mo., unit of UMB Financial Corp., announced Thursday that it had signed a definitive agreement to buy Reams Asset Management Co. of Columbus, Ind. The deal would more than double its assets under management.

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Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sunk in August to its lowest level in 16 months, according to the Advisor Confidence Index from Rydex/SGI.

An internecine battle has broken out on Capitol Hill over how the Securities and Exchange Commission should enforce a blanket fiduciary standard for all financial advisers.

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Fidelity Investments said Tuesday that it has enhanced WealthCentral, its custodial platform for registered investment advisers.

A bill before Congress that would increase worker retirement savings would be a burden to small employers, according to a report from Aite Group.

Sales of fixed annuities through all channels totaled $19.4 billion in the second quarter, a jump of 18% from the first quarter, according to a report by Beacon Research, which tracks fixed annuity sales.

In the clash of the two largest U.S. brokerages, Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch is generating more profit with fewer people than the business Morgan Stanley formed by buying a controlling stake in a venture with Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney.

Shares in Swedish investment bank HQ AB plunged 84% Monday after its banking license was revoked by regulators over the weekend, pushing the bank into involuntary liquidation.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently recruited Michael O'Brien, a former BlackRock executive, to head its worldwide institutional sales.

Wall Street wire houses — or bulge-bracket firms — continued to top the list of sponsors of separately managed accounts in the second quarter, according to research by the Money Management Institute and Dover Financial Research.

The Royal Bank of Canada wealth management unit in the United States increased its net income by 10% in the company's fiscal third quarter from the year earlier.

Charles Schwab Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy Windward Investment Management Inc. of Boston for $150 million in stock and cash.

Community banks reported investment program income of $110.1 million for the period, an increase of 4.6% from the fourth quarter of 2009 and a 12.6% jump from the first quarter of 2009.