Wealth management

A record 344 hedge funds were liquidated in the third quarter, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.

A recession and a new president did not dissuade SunTrust Banks Inc. from announcing in mid-December that it was getting into the health savings account business.

State Street Corp. has introduced 15 exchange-traded funds this year and says it will start more in 2009 despite a large, industrywide decline in ETF assets through the first 11 months of this year.

A Fidelity Investments platform for brokers leaving their jobs at full-service firms could help bolster the ranks of independent brokers, observers say.

CRC Insurance Services Inc., BB&T Corp.'s wholesale insurance unit, announced that it has agreed to acquire TAPCO Underwriters Inc. of Burlington, N.C.

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United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio, announced Friday that it has agreed to sell all the outstanding capital stock of Butler Wick & Co. Inc., the securities arm of Butler Wick Corp., to Stifel Financial Corp. in St. Louis.

BB&T Insurance Services announced Thursday that it has a deal to buy J. Rolfe Davis Insurance in Maitland, Fla.

Brown & Brown Inc., a Daytona Beach, Fla., insurer, has announced the purchase of Alexander & Bolton Inc., an Alexandria, La., insurance agency.

The Investment Company Institute said that 54.5 million households had investments in equities or bonds through early 2008.

Fifty-five percent of individual investors think a financial adviser could help them, according to a survey by Opinion Research Corp. for TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

SunTrust Banks Inc. announced that it has introduced a health savings account.

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

Wayne Hummer Asset Management Co. LLC, a unit of Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., said that it has started a Wayne Hummer Small Cap Core Mutual Fund.

Fidelity Investments announced that Hybrid-One, a product designed to help companies and advisers manage their commission- and fee-based business, has attracted 104 hybrid clients with $13 billion of assets since its June launching.

Second of two parts

First of two parts

Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc., a unit of Regions Financial Corp., announced that it has bought Burke Capital Group LLC, an Atlanta investment banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions and private capital advisory services to financial institutions in the Southeast.

As the market turmoil pushes small, struggling mutual fund businesses toward buyouts, Federated Investors Inc. in Pittsburgh is well situated to be a buyer, according to a senior company executive.

Northern Trust Corp. announced Monday that it will cut about 4% of its work force to offset damage from its recent support of money market funds.