Wealth management

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. said that so far this year gross sales in its bank trust channel have increased 30% from a year earlier, and a company executive said that he thinks the Boston investment management company will be able to match that performance in the channel next year even while it struggles with overall losses.

Eight former Fidelity Investments employees are to pay more than $1 million, in all, to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they improperly accepted gifts paid for by brokers courting Fidelity's business, the agency has announced.

This year's shrinkage in assets under management in U.S. funds could reach 29%, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.

Vanguard Group has announced the filing of a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its first international small-cap index fund.

Unified managed accounts have remained more resilient than other products while markets have suffered, the Money Management Institute said.

Vision Capital Advisors LLC, a New York investment advisory firm, has announced the hiring of Andrew Lutz, a 13-year veteran in institutional fixed-income trading and investing, to be a managing director.

(To see this graphic in full, click on the image in the box to the right.)

The funding ratio at the typical corporate pension plan fell 13.4 percentage points last month, the worst monthly performance since the 1987 stock market crash, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management.

OppenheimerFunds Inc. hired Geoffrey J. Craddock as a senior vice president and director of risk management and asset allocation.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s private bank has expanded into Chicago a program that offers aging clients a range of support services.

First Citizens Bancorp. Inc. of Columbia, S.C., said it will offer its business customers Fidelity Investments' 401(k) platform.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s sale of half of its investment management division to executives from Neuberger Berman, which is part of the business, will be an all-stock transaction valued at more than $1 billion.

American International Group Inc. promoted Peter Eastwood to president and chief executive officer of Lexington Insurance Co., a unit of AIG Commercial Insurance.

Federated Investors Inc., a Pittsburgh investment manager, completed its acquisition of certain assets of David W. Tice & Associates LLC relating to the management of the $1.1 billion Prudent Bear Fund and the $363.8 million Prudent Global Income Fund.

Mackenzie Financial Corp. of Toronto launched an equity fund that will invest in U.S. companies.

Hedge funds declined 2.7% last month, staying on pace for their worst year ever, but there are some promising signs, Hennessee Group LLC said.

TD Asset Management Inc., the manager of TD Mutual Funds, has launched the TD Comfort Portfolios.

Brown & Brown Inc., an asset manager in Daytona Beach, Fla., has bought Stewart & Tunno Insurance Agency Inc., a Portland, Ore., firm that focuses on property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses.