Wealth management

Citadel Investment Group sold 13.9 million shares of E-Trade Corp. stock and set up a plan to sell much more, according to regulatory filings.

To the Editor:
The facts in your Aug. 10 article about variable annuity sales leaders ["TIAA-CREF's Stamina as Annuity Leader in Doubt"] suggest the opposite of the headline.

Guggenheim Partners LLC, a Chicago financial services company, said it has agreed to buy Claymore Group Inc., an investment products provider based in Lisle, Ill.

Today's environment finding decent yields at acceptable levels of risk a challenge. Though not as easy as it was last fall, there are options, each with its own pros and cons.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s agreement Wednesday to buy Insight Investment Management Ltd. for $387 million from Lloyds Banking Group PLC could force some of the other large custody banks to step up acquisition efforts.

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While some banks jettison fund units that fail to achieve at least $5 billion under management, Huntington Bancshares has spent the past nine years nursing its own.

UBS AG of Zurich said it has hired more than 20 senior bankers from competitors including Merrill Lynch & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to strengthen its fixed-income unit.

Hedge funds have generated strong returns this year, but the $1.4 trillion industry remains in a sticky financial situation because many firms have yet to recoup losses from 2008, leaving them missing out on lucrative fees.

Pershing LLC, a unit of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., has started providing its introducing broker-dealer and independent registered investment advisory customers with access to a performance reporting service from Black Diamond Performance Reporting.

The online brokerage Scottrade Inc. of St. Louis has opened branches in Portage, Mich., North Little Rock, and Somers Point, N.J.

Investor confidence among affluent investors increased in July, according to monthly data released by Spectrem Group.

First Republic Bank, a San Francisco private banking and wealth management company, has hired Andrew Smaltz as a managing director of foreign exchange.

Metavante Technologies has introduced the option for financial institutions to add financial planning and advice technology from AdviceAmerica to Metavante's existing wealth management offering.

UMB Financial is set to make its first — and promises not the last — acquisition as part of a strategy to "substantially" expand its insurance services unit.

Morgan Stanley paid $950 million to buy back warrants issued to the federal government as part of its capital infusion to banks.

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

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Despite strong variable annuity sales and better than average performance, TIAA-CREF's ability to continue adding assets at this pace has analysts split.

Investment managers are developing lower-cost alternatives to annuities to help customers — and advisers — spend their savings after retirement.