Wealth management

Speculation grew Tuesday that MetLife is negotiating to buy American International Group Inc.'s American Life Insurance Co.

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TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s top executive said Tuesday that the company's trading activity has improved this month as investors "reengaged in the market."

Like manufacturers seeking multiple distribution avenues, many life insurance companies have been looking for further sales channels. The bank channel, for one, has been gaining traction.

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn will be among the speakers Jan. 29 at a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. conference on interest rate risk.

Twenty-eight law firms, financial advisers, investment banks and consulting firms working to unwind Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in bankruptcy racked up $568.7 million in fees through December.

A Morningstar report has confirmed that investors put a priority on averting risk during 2009.

The SEI Advisor Network released a survey Thursday showing that more than half of investors have moved back into the market, though risk and its avoidance are now overriding concerns.

Real estate investment trusts earned higher returns during the past decade than investments in any other equity sector, according to research from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

New life insurance premiums at banks rose 59% in the third quarter of last year from a year earlier, the latest quarter for which data is available, according to the Kehrer-Limra bank life sales report, released last week.

Taking more of a hands-off approach with its Merrill Lynch financial advisers, the Charlotte company had "historically" low broker attrition in the fourth quarter and even plans to add advisers this year, Sallie Krawcheck, the president of Bank of America Global Wealth, said during a conference call Thursday.

Bank of America Corp. global wealth and investment management president Sallie Krawcheck said Thursday that broker departures were at an all-time low in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Barclays Capital has hired Liz Padova Hanson as a managing director in the asset securitization origination business in the Americas.

Global assets for exchange-traded funds hit the $1 trillion mark in 2009, a milestone long expected by industry insiders and a reflection of ETFs' rapid emergence as a competitor to the $7 trillion mutual fund industry.

Huntington Bancshares Inc.'s wealth management arm aims to leverage "The Year of the Roth" into a closer relationship with its customers.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it has doubled its fourth-quarter core earnings estimate, and it said core operations "performed well" in the period.

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To expand its independent broker-dealer arm, Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. has hired a team that had worked for Axa Advisors LLC.

As wealthy customers reevaluate their financial situations, PNC's wealth management advisers are increasing and improving their conversations with them in an effort to retain and expand relationships.

When Congress allowed the estate tax to expire at the end of 2009, it may not have realized that it was setting up a social experiment that could test the values of high-net-worth individuals.