Wealth management

Prudential Annuities, the U.S. annuity business of Prudential Financial Inc., has hired Tim Seifert as a vice president and director of national sales.

The fund tracks the performance of the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities Aggregate Index, which includes nonconvertible preferred securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange or the NYSE Arca that have a par amount of $25; are rated investment grade by Moody's Investors Service Inc. or Standard & Poor's; and have had a minimum monthly trading volume during each of the past six months of at least 250,000 trading units.

The U.S. division of Sun Life Financial Inc. of Toronto has hired Sean Woodroffe as head of human resources for the U.S. business.

New York Life Insurance Co. announced it has appointed Paul Pasteris to its executive management committee.

The struggles of U.S. banking companies are providing Harris Private Bank of Chicago with an opportunity to expand its wealth management operations.

With fee income off in many of its business lines, Wall Street may have a new appreciation for the potential of health care banking.

Trust banks such as State Street Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. may be a safer bet than commercial banks in uncertain times, but low interest rates are one caution Goldman Sachs Group Inc. highlighted Monday.

Mutual fund investors' confidence in the markets appears to be steadily growing, with several fund categories having their biggest inflows of the year last week.

Citigroup Inc. has hired former Merrill Lynch & Co. banker Rodney Tsang as co-head of its China investment banking team, adding firepower to the bank's effort to target China's private-sector companies.

Harris Private Bank in Chicago, a Bank of Montreal unit, announced Monday it acquired Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors in Phoenix.

Shutterly, the Louisville company's director of investments said the platform generated $20 million of assets under management in its first year — more than twice what he expected it would when it was launched in October 2008.

Laurence Fink, the chairman and chief executive of BlackRock Inc., says the U.S. dollar remains the best currency for investors seeking to protect wealth.

When Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. sold two more wealth units last week, management painted the transactions as prudent moves to firm up capital.

In another sign of model portfolios' growing popularity, Fiserv Inc. has introduced a communications infrastructure designed to better transmit models between asset managers and clients, including bank trust departments.

Boston Private Financial Holdings sold Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust for $93 million in cash and will sell Rinet Co. to the affiliate's management team for an undisclosed price.

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Open-end mutual funds attracted more than $226 billion of assets in the first eight months of this year, bringing them close to making up the ground lost in the second half of last year, according to Morningstar Inc.

TD Ameritrade Institutional, a unit of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., announced Thursday it had introduced a Business Evaluator tool to help advisers join or start a registered investment advisory firm.

Far from any population center, Michael Jandreau, the chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, knew even an enormous casino couldn't generate enough revenue for the South Dakota tribe. So he did the next best thing: he bought a wealth management company, Westrock Group Inc. in New York.

Citigroup Inc. Chairman Richard Parsons is joining the Rhode Island private-equity firm Providence Equity Partners as a senior adviser but will remain in his Citigroup post.