Wealth management

Legg Mason Inc. of Baltimore announced plans Friday to cut about 200 jobs, or 8% of its work force, as it seeks to reduce annual expenses by $120 million.

ING Group NV said it has realigned its U.S. wealth management business.

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Difficult market conditions have hammered variable annuities, but fixed annuities have held their own as investors have looked for products with a guaranteed return, industry analysts say.

PNC Global Investment Servicing, a Wilmington, Del., unit of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. of Pittsburgh, promoted Nancy B. Wolcott to president.

WisdomTree, a provider of exchange-traded funds, has launched the WisdomTree LargeCap Growth Fund on the NYSE Arca.

Prudential Financial Inc. said it plans to sell its minority stake in Wachovia Securities to Wells Fargo & Co. and seek cash from the Treasury Department's rescue fund to rebuild capital.

Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. has elected Keith Meyers as managing director.

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. of Coral Gables, Fla., promoted David Viera to senior vice president and Ricardo Garbati to vice president.

Confidence among affluent and millionaire investors sunk further in November, according to Spectrem Group.

Putnam Investments has hired two executives from Fidelity Investments: Clare Richer as a senior managing director and chief financial officer and Andra Bolotin as managing director and controller.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced Monday that it will promote Robert J. Casale, a senior vice president and its deputy chief information officer, to chief information officer Jan. 1.

Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. said Monday that it has promoted Brett Collins to managing director for its financial planning offices in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Rreef Alternative Investments, Deutsche Bank Asset Management's global alternatives asset management arm, said it has closed its deal to acquire a minority interest in Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC, a Berkeley, Calif., long/short real estate investment adviser.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. said Monday that it has made additions to its Sustainability Platform that will let advisers customize traditional separately managed accounts and unified managed accounts with socially responsible screening tools.

The plan by New York Life Insurance Co.'s investment management arm to change a subsidiary's name has some industry observers speculating the subsidiary could be for sale.

New premiums for individual life insurance fell 11% on an annual basis in the third quarter, according to Limra International Inc.'s sales survey report.

Despite difficult market conditions that have yielded poor investment returns, individual investors are maintaining their retirement savings and continuing to invest in their 401(k) plans, according to Hewitt Associates' annual retirement study.

Fidelity Investments has hired Charles G. Goldman, an executive vice president and head of Schwab Institutional, to be its president of institutional platforms in the Fidelity institutional products group.

Putnam Investments, a Boston subsidiary of Great West Lifeco Inc., has hired Daniel C. Farrell to head its equity trading.