Wealth management

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust, a Coral Gables, Fla., mortgage banking, private banking, and wealth management unit of Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc., hired Jonathan Wolfe as a senior vice president and chief operations officer.

Royal Bank of Canada said it has opened RBC Brasil DTVM, a Brazilian investment advisory unit.

Fidelity Investments said it has put James Catudal, who already manages three of its funds, in charge of the $6.24 billion Fidelity Growth and Income Portfolio Fund, succeeding Timothy M. Cohen.

John Hancock Funds, a unit of Manulife Financial Corp. of Toronto, has acquired a large-cap value fund from Robeco Boston Partners and renamed it the John Hancock Disciplined Value Fund.

Vanguard Group of Valley Forge, Pa., will distribute 32 of its U.S.-registered exchange-traded funds through JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s depositary receipts group for trading on Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, the international segment of the Mexican Stock Exchange.

The new top executive at RBC Direct Investing, Royal Bank of Canada's discount brokerage arm, said further contraction in the field should help his unit continue to expand in Canada and possibly in other markets.

UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corp. of Kansas City, Mo., announced that its health spending account total has exceeded 1 million.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has acquired the U.S. operations of Sustainable Finance Ltd., an advisory firm focused on environmental and social risk management in the financial sector.

Deciding where wealth management clients should put their money this year is a daunting business, but investment executives at some banking companies seem to wholeheartedly agree on where it should not go: into Treasury bills.

The majority of independent advisers still expect to increase assets and develop new business this year, despite difficult market conditions, according to a survey SEI Investments Co. of Oaks, Pa., released last week.

Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., a Toronto unit of Franklin Resources Inc., launched a global fund of funds and a North American quant fund for Canadians who want a conservative way to re-enter the equity markets while balancing their risk with fixed income.

OppenheimerFunds Inc. promoted Art Steinmetz, its longest tenured portfolio manager, to director of fixed income.

Heritage Union LLC of Richmond, Va., have merged two of its units, Annuity and Life Reassurance America Inc. and Heritage Union Life Insurance Co., under the name Heritage Union Life Insurance Co.

Wachovia Securities said it has promoted Mike Powers to managing director for northeastern Ohio.

Scottrade Inc. announced that it plans to open two branches in Orange County, Calif.

The funding ratio at the typical U.S. corporate pension plan declined more than 11 percentage points last month after falling more than 13 percentage points in November, according to data released by BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Spectrem Group said its millionaire index of investor confidence posted its largest-ever gain last month.

Gulf Stream Asset Management LLC plans to add credit-related funds to its lineup, betting that if it enters the field now it will be positioned to capitalize when the credit markets rebound.

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