Wealth management

Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP, an investment bank for financial companies, has hired former Institutional Credit Partners LLC executive Carlos Mendez to lead its new structured-finance group.

With the global debt crisis set to corral investment banking's bull run, it's questionable whether the largest lenders can compensate for a resultant decline in a top source of profits.

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First Republic Bank in San Francisco continued its expansion in Los Angeles, hiring three City National Bank executives.

Investor confidence has declined, but concerns over the European economy appear to be easing, a monthly Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of fund managers found.

Most registered investment advisers spend decades building a practice based on a solid reputation with a core clientele.

Lincoln National Corp., one of three insurers to get bailed out by the U.S., said Monday it will repay the government with a planned sale of more than $1 billion of stock and debt.

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Chief executives are optimistic about the economy's prospects for the first time since the second quarter of 2007.

Client activity is down this quarter at JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s investment bank, though it is too early to determine if the slowing will affect second-quarter results, the unit's chief executive said.

Barclays Wealth, the private banking unit of Barclays PLC, is "close" to agreeing on setting up a private banking joint venture with Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., a person familiar with the situation said Friday.

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Banks expect hybrid annuities with long-term-care riders to be the next hot product on brokerage platforms, as soon as product providers ramp up their offerings in this area, a Kehrer-Limra executive said.

Brokers started streaming from wire houses a couple of years ago, and judging from the experience of Columbia State Bank in Tacoma, there are plenty still interested in leaving.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s $2 billion Hudson Mezzanine collateralized debt obligation, sold in 2006, is the target of a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

American International Group Inc. may still receive $35.5 billion for an Asian division after a purchase agreement with Prudential PLC collapsed last week, the Treasury Department said.

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LPL Financial may be in its quiet period, but industry observers are happy to talk about the broader effects of the Boston financial services company's coming initial public offering.

There's a growing divide between the way bankers and consumers view the banking industry, according to the annual Bank Administration Institute Index of Bank Consumer Sentiment.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the investment bank liquidating in bankruptcy, asked for court permission to invest $255 million in a 21-story building at 237 Park Avenue in New York.