Wealth management

For employers with 401(k) plans, auto enrollment is growing, and target-date funds are an increasingly popular default option. But concern is building over what happens when the two trends meet.

Asset managers are not in financial reform's crosshairs, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a report.

Putnam Investments has started an enhanced website for sponsors of 401(k) plans and other defined contribution retirement programs.

Fidelity Investments has launched a program for registered investment advisers to help maximize their referral flow.

The number of exchange-traded funds has surged the past few years, bringing a unique business opportunity to Russell Indexes in Tacoma.

Jesup & Lamont Inc. announced it would terminate all non-essential personnel and stop paying nearly all salaries about a week after the small investment bank and brokerage firm received a notice to stop making trades.

The Valley Forge, Pa., mutual fund giant plans to introduce 19 exchange-traded funds in an effort to offer a wider array of low-cost stock and bond options. The firm will also launch ETF shares of its flagship Vanguard 500 Index Fund.

While the House version pushed for the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a fiduciary standard, the Senate preferred instead to have the SEC study differences between its fiduciary standard and the suitability standard many brokers are held to by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, without giving the SEC the power to do anything about it.

Though world gross domestic product shrank in 2009, high-net-worth individuals managed to almost make up for 2008 losses, according to the Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini 14th annual "World Wealth Report."

Investors seem less worried than Congress when it comes to the opacity of management fees, according to Spectrem Group's latest "Retirement Market Insights" report.

Demand for health savings accounts seems to be reviving after a long period of inertia that preceded the passage of health care reform.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $102 million to settle claims by Massachusetts that the firm financed and securitized unfair residential loans, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

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Jefferies & Co. said on Wednesday it hired Michael Anderson as a managing director in its global equity capital markets group, responsible for coverage of financial institutions.

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TIAA-CREF announced that as part of a "new client-focused organizational structure," Edward Van Dolsen will become chief operating officer, succeeding Maliz Beams, who will be leaving the firm, one of the largest private retirement systems in the United States.

Investor behavior has changed dramatically amid the market rebound and signs of economic recovery, according to the 14th annual World Wealth Report released Wednesday by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management in conjunction with Capgemini.

Schwab Advisor Services is taking steps to ensure that it and its adviser clients move in lockstep to avoid running afoul of the IRS' broader cost-basis reporting rules.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is now considering a corporate branding campaign in a bid to improve its battered reputation, and has even discussed placing its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, on the "The Oprah Show," a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. announced Tuesday that it has started a unit to clear futures and derivatives trades.