Wealth management

John Hancock Life Insurance, a Boston unit of Toronto's Manulife Financial Corp., said it has introduced the John Hancock Accumulation UL product, a universal life policy.

ProFunds Group, a Bethesda, Md., manager of short and leveraged funds, announced Thursday that it had hired Joanne M. Hill to head investment strategy.

Putnam Investments said Thursday that it will lay off 260 employees, or about 10% of its work force, mostly in distribution and operations.

State Street Global Advisors, State Street Corp.'s investment management arm, has introduced the SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF.

Protective Life Corp. in Birmingham, Ala., is rethinking whether it wants government capital.

Mellon Capital Management Corp. of San Francisco, a unit of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., has launched a fund called Mellon Capital High Quality Long Corporate Bond Strategy with $100 million of assets from three clients.

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Second-to-die life insurance, or survivorship insurance, was mainly intended for one purpose: Pay any estate taxes for nonspouse heirs over the estate tax exemption.

BNY Mellon Asset Management's acquisition of fund units in London and Australia is part of its strategy to expand "opportunistically" overseas — including potentially in Asia — as competitors contract, a top officer says.

Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC, a Newport Beach, Calif., unit of Allianz Group, launched the Pimco Unconstrained Tax Managed Bond Fund.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, a Boston unit of Toronto's Manulife Financial Corp., said it has hired eight regional vice presidents and established an internal sales desk with 10 sales associates.

Michael Burke has stepped down as the head of Deutsche Bank U.S. Private Client Services, and two regional heads have succeeded him.

Van Kampen Investments Inc., a Chicago asset manager, has hired Elizabeth Hughes Eginton as managing director and head of product and marketing.

UMB Scout Funds, the fund unit of UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., announced Monday that it had promoted Tony DeMarino to the newly created post of national sales director and Lance Peterson to the newly created post of director of national accounts.

The 17 exchange-traded funds Northern Trust Corp. has decided to close will have plenty of company in the ETF graveyard before the year is out, experts predict.

BNY Mellon Asset Management announced Monday that it had introduced two fund units — Blackfriars Asset Management in London and Ankura Capital in Sydney.

Spring Consulting Group LLC, which sells consulting services to insurance, financial services, and health-care organizations, said Monday that it had hired Steven Keshner as a chief actuary.

New York Life retirement plan services, a Westwood, Mass., division of New York Life Investments, announced Monday that it had hired Deanna Garen to be the managing director of participant strategy.