Wealth management

BlackRock Inc.'s third-quarter profit rose a better-than-expected 46% as the asset-management giant benefited from growth in assets under management and investors' greater risk appetite.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced Tuesday that he is suing State Street Bank and Trust for alleged fraud against the state's two largest pension funds.

As chairman and chief executive of State Street, Ronald Logue's business is asset-servicing and management. These clients are joining in a swell of consolidation expected to gain further momentum.

Life insurance can be an important addition to the array of products offered by licensed bankers, acting as a "protective wrapper" for savings, 529 plans, retirement products and debt.

Jefferies & Co. said Monday that it has hired a team of 17 rates traders and sales representatives in London and Asia as part of a strategy to build a global rates trading business.

HSBC Holdings PLC announced Monday it hired Kaveh Samie as a managing director and head of equities for the Middle East.

Lincoln Financial Group has hired Anant Bhalla as corporate treasurer and head of risk management.

AmTrust Financial Services entered into an agreement to invest in American Capital Acquisition in connection with its acquisition of GMAC Financial Services' U.S. consumer property/casualty insurance business.

As exchange-traded funds continue to grow in scope and popularity, investment experts warn that some products, such as leveraged and inverse ETFs, may be too dangerous for all but the most experienced investors.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is gaining mutual fund market share as competitors quit the business, according to Morningstar Inc.

Consolidation in the private banking sector has gathered momentum with two new deals, and analysts see more action on the horizon as improving financial health, stiffer regulation and tighter competition drive stronger players to snap up assets at bargain prices.

The share of mass-affluent households using full-service brokers as their private financial advisers has declined by eight percentage points, to 22%, this year, according to Spectrem Group research.

SunTrust Banks Inc. promoted Willem-Jan O. Hattink to executive vice president and head of private wealth management and institutional investment solutions.

Thanks largely to expanded marketing and increased distribution, OptumHealth Financial Services has boosted its health savings accounts 35% over the past two years, but health-care reform could hamper future gains.

Charles Schwab Corp. posted a 34% drop in third-quarter profit as low interest rates and depressed stock prices continue to cut into asset management fees.

Linebacker turned financial adviser Reggie Wilkes says the biggest surprise of his football career was the startling number of teammates who couldn't balance their checkbooks.

Investors increasingly believe that the threat of another dip in the economy is waning, a survey concluded.

Legendary Wall Street dealmaker and Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein died on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Lazard confirmed with Investment Dealers' Digest. He was 61.

The death of Wasserstein, 61 years old, is a blow to Lazard, the investment bank he has run for several years.

National Financial, Fidelity Investments' clearing unit, has started a program that enables retail broker-dealers to deposit or "sweep" cash in their customers' eligible brokerage accounts into multiple interest-bearing bank accounts that offer FDIC coverage.