Wealth management

Bank-based adviser productivity stayed relatively flat in February, in large part reflecting January's weakness. But observers are enthusiastic about the rest of 2010.

Dune Thorne, managing director at Silver Bridge Advisors, decided to undertake independent studies on women and investing, as well as angel investing.

Investor confidence among millionaires rose to its highest level in more than two years as optimism about the economy increased.

The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the asset management industry is expected to pick up for the rest of this year both nationally and globally after tumbling in the first quarter.

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, reported a 48% increase in first-quarter profit as record earnings at the investment bank outweighed a loss from asset and wealth management.

Six former brokers at Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney unit have lost a lawsuit against the banking company to evade repaying the remainder of their signing bonuses, which totaled $1.51 million.

A report says that, though financial advisers expect this to be a great year, wire houses are still feeling the turbulence, and breakaway brokers, though waning, are still a concern.

While providing customers' access to a broader array of financial products is not pure banking, it positions your institution to service and support your customers' needs and to be competitive with larger banks. Doing what's right for customers and helping them pursue their goals is at the very foundation of the community bank model.

Stifel Financial Corp., a St. Louis brokerage, has agreed to buy Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc. for about $318 million in stock to expand its investment banking operations.

BlackRock Inc. said Monday that its profit quintupled in the first quarter, its first full period of earnings since buying Barclays Global Investors for $13.5 billion.

Advent International, a Boston private-equity firm founded in 1984, has shifted from its initial plan of investing in troubled banks to a focus on banks' back-office technology, specifically transaction processing businesses.

Women are living longer, and after the scare of the financial crisis, concern among them has increased about not having enough money to last their lifetimes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's civil lawsuit accusing Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of securities fraud could strengthen the argument to establish a universal fiduciary standard, according to legal experts.

Morgan Stanley's first-quarter earnings were driven by a big jump in fixed-income trading that helped to boost its overall results above Wall Street's projections.

With leverage no longer considered a sure thing to generate returns, private-equity investors now have to focus on growth.

If it means working longer, affluent investors are prepared to do so to alleviate their concerns about retirement savings and the rising costs of health care.

Northern Trust Corp.'s first-quarter profit fell 3% on higher expenses. Revenue edged higher amid still-low interest rates.

Bank of America Corp. global wealth and investment management will slow its focus on expanding its brokerage force and instead turn its attention toward investing in new technology and training novice brokers, the wire house's president, Sallie Krawcheck, said Tuesday.

Charles Schwab Corp. said it has agreed to pay $200 million to settle a federal class action related to its YieldPlus ultra-short bond fund.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may be facing a political and legal storm over its business practices, but its first-quarter results continued a pattern of trouncing even optimistic expectations.