Wealth management

Americans' confidence in their ability to retire appears to be stabilizing, according to an annual survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington.

[Re "As Regs Pinch, Banks Cool to Brokered Deposits," Feb. 18 Community Banking supplement] It would be impossible to give you a full presentatation, so let me just make some fundamental points for your consideration.

Citi Private Bank's North America CEO Peter Charrington said he would like the unit to roughly double the size of the unit's private banker force over the next several years.

Many hedge funds expect Greece's debt crisis to spread to other countries, and some managers in the $1.5 trillion industry think the country's problems will lead to the breakup of the euro, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more, not including a primary residence, increased 16%, to 7.8 million last year, according to a report.

In an effort to offer an array of college savings products, SLM, the education lending and savings company better known as Sallie Mae, announced it had introduced FDIC-insured, high-yield online savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

It's been a tough few weeks for Morgan Keegan. The Memphis brokerage unit of Regions Financial recently lost big in two arbitration cases and failed to get a court order blocking discovery in a state court case brought by the retirement system for Louisiana's firefighters, which allegedly lost nearly $50 million by investing in Morgan Keegan bond funds.

Citigroup Inc. continued a recent hiring spree in its private banking unit, adding two regional executives from Barclays Wealth, a unit of Barclays PLC.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. announced Monday that it has agreed to buy BHF Asset Servicing GmbH from BHF-Bank Aktiengesellschaft for $343 million.

American International Group Inc. on Monday announced a definitive agreement to sell American Life Insurance Co. to MetLife Inc.

As many as 88% of bank brokerage programs now offer fee-based accounts, Ken Kehrer, director of research at Kehrer-Limra, said in a presentation Sunday at the Bank Insurance and Securities Association's annual conference in Hollywood, Fla.

With debt financing still tough to come by, private-equity investors are teaming up with deep-pocketed corporations to find new transactions and help finance their deals.

What seems like a minor back-office move could make a world of difference to Bank of America clients and wealth advisers.

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Registered investment advisers are thinking outside their more typical client prospecting and communications streams and product mix this year.

Baird Private Wealth Management's recruiting spree might be nearing an end despite the firm's best intentions.

In an effort to attract customers and assets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is offering employers a tool to help them gauge employees' success at saving for retirement within a 401(k) plan.

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As a member of Citigroup Inc.'s internal advisory board, Linda Descano had heard from myriad female executives who said they wanted to talk about money but felt they couldn't for one reason or another.

Hedge fund assets grew 62% last year, to $1.96 trillion, a level not seen since the precrisis days of 2007, according to Hennessee Group LLC.