Wealth management

The average balance of defined contribution plans administered by Vanguard Group fell 17% from January 2008 through March 31.

Around the time it sold its own registered advisory firm four years ago, Silicon Valley Bank of Santa Clara, Calif., struck up a relationship with another RIA, GW & Wade LLC.

Affluent investors' confidence increased in May for the third consecutive month, according to a survey by Spectrem Group.

The fixed-income manager Standish Mellon Asset Management Co. LLC, a Bank of New York Mellon Corp. unit, said it plans to introduce investment strategies to let clients invest in securities related to the Federal Reserve Board's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility.

New York Life Retirement Plan Services has introduced an advisory services platform tailored for union members, but analysts say it could be a difficult time to introduce an advisory platform of any sort.

Pyramis Global Advisors, a unit of Fidelity Investments, has opened an office to serve clients and consultants in the Middle East.

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

When management gurus talk about turning a negative into a positive, State Street Corp.'s experience with the Treasury Department's stress test could be a case study.

Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's largest bank by market value, said it had hired David Russ, the chief investment officer of Dartmouth College. The announcement came two weeks after the school's credit rating was cut because of budget deficits and borrowing.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is disbanding an investment banking unit that wagers the company's money on hedge funds, alternative investment products, leveraged buyouts and real estate, according to people familiar with the plan.

In early January, Paul Siers, a Raymond James adviser at Isabella Bank in Mount Pleasant, Mich., was hunting for some dividend-paying equities to help his clients eke out a little investment income in a horrendous market.

American International Group Inc., the insurer shedding assets to pay back a $182.5 billion U.S. bailout, plans to sell its stake in an Argentine consumer finance operation to Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires SA and an investment group arranged by Grupo Pegasus.

BB&T Corp. has introduced a unified managed account platform, and — unlike similar bank-owned wealth management providers — the Winston-Salem, N.C., company plans to transfer all its equity assets under management onto the platform.

Federated Investors Inc., a Pittsburgh investment manager, announced a definitive agreement with Touchstone Advisors Inc. to buy two of its mutual funds.

Silver Bridge Advisors, a Boston wealth advisory firm, said Monday that it had hired Lynne Dombroski as a principal and a client adviser.

From recommending different products to rethinking their risk management strategy, some bank-affiliated financial advisers say they have changed their approach in the wake of last year's market slump.

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research, a unit of Bank of America Corp., announced Monday that it had hired Ethan Harris to head North America economics and David Bianco to head U.S. equity strategy.

Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley completed their joint venture Monday, creating the world's largest brokerage, with about 18,500 financial advisers and combined annual revenue of about $14 billion.