Wealth management

Registered investment adviser firms are on pace for a record year in mergers and acquisitions, after their strongest-ever quarter, according to an analysis by Schwab Advisor Services, the RIA division of Charles Schwab Corp.

As major market indexes rose in March, so, too, did exchange-traded-fund assets under management. Monthly data from State Street Global Advisors, released last week, said assets held in U.S. exchange-traded funds rose 7.2% from a month earlier, to $806 billion.

The House of Representatives' passage of the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010 may limit high-net-worth individuals' opportunities to slash their estate and gift tax bills.

The SEC proposes limiting risky investments by money market funds. Even though this is a step in the right direction we do not think it is enough.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is courting endowment heads to join its asset management group, according to three people with knowledge of the search.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman, who took over from John Mack in January, said he is unhappy with results for last year, when the company reported its first per-share annual loss.

Advisory assets are rising at Citigroup Inc.'s post-Smith Barney brokerage after its controversial move of transaction-heavy advisers to a fee-only platform serving just wealthy clients.

SunTrust Banks Inc. said it is in discussions to sell portions of its RidgeWorth Investments subsidiary, which specializes in institutional investment management.

For more information on this data, visit Novantas LLC and Market Rates Insight.

Since the recession began, 401(k)s have been deemed a failure, with the stock market's plunge calling into question the effectiveness of the long-revered retirement savings vehicle.

A former Merrill Lynch and Citigroup broker convicted of selling access to his brokerages' internal "squawk boxes" asked a judge to throw out his conviction and others, claiming that prosecutors hid evidence of their innocence.

High-net-worth clients appear to be putting off retirement, according to a recent study of advisers. The retirement income survey, conducted by MainStay Investments, the adviser distribution arm of New York Life Investments, found that investors are still shaken by the deep recession of 2008 and early 2009.

Buoyed by increased capital — and increased optimism — the banks, trust companies, wealth management firms and bank brokerages that can safely instigate mergers and acquisitions are starting to do just that.

Small-cap and midcap domestic equity mutual funds are leading the way in returns in 2010, according to a Standard & Poor's analysis.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. announced Wednesday that it promoted Brett D. Sovine to president and chief executive officer of its trust company.

Now that the economy is stabilizing and financial services firms are hiring again, companies are focusing on diversifying their hiring practices.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. plans to revamp its annuity lineup and target business owners as part of an initiative to develop its wealth management operations.

To strengthen its position as a wealth-service provider to high-net-worth clients in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, National Penn Investors Trust Co. has hired three key managers from Millennium Wealth Management.

The Carlyle Group, the world's second-largest private-equity firm, raised $1.1 billion for its first fund targeting investments in the financial services industry.

After massive losses in 2008, many on Wall Street expected investors in target-date funds to pull out their assets and put their retirement savings elsewhere.