Wealth management

KBK Wealth Management plans to increase its assets under management over 150% in the next 18 months by recruiting midtier brokers.

Starwood Capital Group Global LLC, a private investment company in Greenwich, Conn., has hired John McCarthy as global head of asset management.

Royal Bank of Canada announced Monday that RBC Capital Markets has acquired full ownership of Commission Direct Inc., a provider of independent commission-compensated services for institutional investors.

The Florida College Investment Plan ranked first among all direct-sold 529 savings plans in one-year and three-year investment performance for the period that ended Dec. 31 in a study by Savingforcollege.com.

Putnam Investments will waste no time reinvigorating its defined contribution business, and its long-struggling equity funds will have to earn their way into the mix, according to Robert Reynolds, its president and chief executive.

The top executive at UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., said the unit plans to buy health savings accounts from small banks that have struggled to add scale.

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

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. of Denver, a broker-dealer that serves financial advisers, said it has agreed to buy Portfolio Design Advisors LLC, an investment management firm in Seal Beach, Calif.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. of Connecticut announced Thomas M. Marra, 50, its president and chief operating officer, will retire July 3 and that he has resigned from the board of directors.

Genworth Financial Inc. of Richmond, Va., has a new insurance platform.

Comerica Inc. announced Wednesday that Curtis C. Farmer will succeed Dennis J. Mooradian as head of the wealth and institutional management division.

If past is prologue, then the retirement assets and funding levels of state and local pension plans will emerge from this recession financially healthy, according to new research by pension plan analysts.

LaCrosse Global Fund Services of London was selected to provide operations services to Primergy Capital Partners LLP.

Despite market conditions, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. says it added market share in its corporate trust business last year.

Northern Trust Corp. announced Tuesday it has promoted James D. McDonald to chief investment strategist.

Citigroup Institutional Trust Co., formerly E.F. Hutton Trust Co., has been divested from Citigroup Inc. and renamed First State Trust Co.

Hedge funds investing in emerging markets ended last year with seven consecutive months of performance declines, resulting in cumulative losses of nearly 37%, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc.