Wealth management

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.

Senate Democrats for the first time embraced a plan to raise taxes on investment fund manager profits, among other deals made Tuesday with the House that would affect financial services.

Deutsche Bank's private wealth management office in Houston has hired John T. McCauley, one of UBS Financial Services' top veteran managers, according to a statement from Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown.

Hedge funds lost money in May but outperformed the traditional equity-market benchmarks, the Hennessee Group said on Tuesday.

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. on Tuesday named Clayton G. Deutsch to succeed Timothy L. Vaill as chief executive officer and president as of July 31.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's battle with Merrill Lynch is heating up as both firms sweeten their recruitment packages, recruiters say.

UBS AG aims to reverse outflows of wealthy clients' funds in 2010, its private banking vice chairman, Alain Robert, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

A bipartisan panel issued a subpoena Monday to investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after the panel said it failed to comply with a documents request and interviews.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., consistently one of the top municipal bond underwriters, has been responding to increased appetite in the market recently by expanding its retail networks, marketing taxable municipal bonds for international distribution and bulking up its public finance staff.