Wealth management

Financial advisers helping their clients ride out tough and volatile equity markets might be interested in reading a recent FundQuest study that found just five mutual fund categories generated positive real alpha in both bull and bear markets.

Affluent investors ended the first half of the year on a sour note, their confidence slipping seven points in June, to minus-12 on Spectrem Group's Affluent Investor Confidence Index, but advisers say that falling confidence presents an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has struck an agreement with Richard Bernstein Advisors, which it says will enhance its research capabilities.

Enlarging the operation has been a key initiative for the Charlotte company for the past year, and its "recommitment" to the business is really beginning to see results "in terms of sales traction in the marketplace," Andy Sieg, head of B of A Merrill Lynch retirement and philanthropic services, said in an interview last week.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has recruited David Oman from UBS AG to serve as chief risk officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

A loss of confidence among wealthy clients and a lack of efficiency in banking business models have hit the global wealth management industry.

The Morningstar 2010 Investment Conference in Chicago was chock-full of sessions on international investing, and the hallways were abuzz with talk of emerging markets. Yet some fund managers damped the excitement, saying that although emerging markets are hot, these investments will not be able to live up to expectations.

Fifth Third Securities' investment program was primarily platform-driven. Now advisers lead the program, creating a product diversity that has allowed it to thrive.

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Fieldpoint Private Bank and Trust announced Wednesday that it hired Robert S. Matthews as its president and chief executive.

Having made a string of insurance agency acquisitions, Northeast Bancorp a year ago was projecting 10% annual growth in its insurance business. But the economy hasn't cooperated. Although the Lewiston, Maine, bank's insurance unit is eking out growth of 1% to 2%, the poor market means its plans for fast growth will have to wait, said Jim Delamater, the bank's president and chief executive.

Investors pulled cash out of municipal bond mutual funds last week for just the third time in a year and a half, despite a strong week for state and local government debt.

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch continue to vie for the top underwriting position in the municipal bond industry, according to midyear rankings from Thomson Reuters.

Under the theory that lucrative investment opportunities like alternative energy will be more likely to spring from overseas markets, Fidelity Investments is positioning its 20-year-old environmental energy mutual fund right at the crossroads of those two sectors.

First Republic Bank began as an independent bank in 1985, and last week, it became independent once again.

Investment advisers may face tough compliance issues in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's unanimous adoption last week of rules designed to prevent IAs from making political contributions to elected officials to obtain business from state and local pension funds, investment pools and college-savings accounts.

BlackRock Inc.'s Evy Hambro, whose gold fund in Europe has beaten most of its rivals, has started the firm's first gold mutual fund in the U.S. as demand for the metal rises on concern that global economic growth is slowing.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives defended valuations for credit default swaps that were presented to American International Group Inc. during the financial crisis, saying they reflected actual market prices.

Morgan Stanley, owner of the world's largest brokerage, hired 100 bankers to offer more products such as jumbo mortgages and structured loans to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney clients, and may quintuple their numbers by the end of 2011, a person with knowledge of the strategy said.

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