Wealth management

Confidence among affluent investors sank in June, according to a survey by Spectrem Group in Chicago.

In the past few years most banks have been moving from a commission-based investment sales model.

Hall Capital Partners LLC of San Francisco investment adviser, said it had promoted John W. Buoymaster to president.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. sued rival Arch Capital Group Ltd. and three former employees, alleging they used trade secrets in an effort to "destroy" a subsidiary of the Connecticut insurer.

The new president of Munder Capital Management, James V. FitzGerald, said the investment manager will pursue acquisitions in the next three to five years as part of an aggressive growth plan.

Charles Schwab Corp. said that beginning today it will waive commissions on electronic equity trades and reimburse transfer of account fees charged by brokers for up to one year for new-to-Schwab clients of independent advisers.

Scotiabank Group announced that it has opened an office for private client services in Miami.

Large trust banks could be among the beneficiaries as consolidation continues in the private banking and wealth management sector.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. announced Tuesday that it bought a minority stake in Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s international derivatives-clearing group.

American Century Investments, a Kansas City investment management company, said that it launched the American Century New York Tax-Free Fund.

State Street Corp. said Monday that its State Street Bank and Trust Co. unit had been given a Wells Notice by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Adviser confidence in the economy and the stock market grew in June, according to Rydex SGI AdvisorBenchmarking.

Registered investment advisers reported a rise in new clients, according to a survey released Monday by TD Ameritrade Institutional, a unit of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

It started with a phone line and a thought.

Brewer Financial Services, the full-service broker-dealer unit of Chicago's Brewer Investment Group, said it had hired Steve Brown as a financial adviser.

Lawson-Hawks Insurance Associates Inc., a regional independent insurance broker in Mountain View, Calif., announced that it has bought Truckee Insurance Agency.

As the economic slump curbs retirement savings, Great-West Retirement Services is trying out what its president is calling "the next generation" of target-date funds.

The economic crisis took a harsh toll on the world's wealth, wiping out two years of growth and reducing both the number of high-net-worth individuals and their total wealth to below 2005 levels.