Wealth management

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.

The largest U.S. hedge funds launched last year started with "significantly" fewer assets than those launched in 2007, according to Absolute Return magazine.

Van Eck Associates Corp., a New York asset management company, launched the Market Vectors High-Yield Municipal Index Exchange-Traded Fund.

The Bank Insurance and Securities Association announced that its BISA-Singer's Bank Brokerage Index dropped 1% in the third quarter from the second quarter, to 119.

Toronto-Dominion Bank confirmed that it has agreed to increase its direct ownership of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. by about five percentage points.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. has hired a former Wachovia Corp. executive to help the Omaha asset management company improve customer satisfaction and perhaps cross-selling, but analysts remain skeptical whether it can succeed.

Van Kampen Funds Inc., a unit of Van Kampen Investments Inc. of Chicago, has a new asset allocation fund.

Affluent investors' confidence rose in January, Spectrem Group said.

Palisade Capital Management LLC, a Fort Lee, N.J., institutional and high-net-worth registered investment adviser, has bought the small-cap, small-mid-cap, and midcap growth equity strategies from AG Asset Management of New York.