Wealth management

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

Most Americans have started to reduce spending, according to a survey TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. of Omaha released last week.

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Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, plans to extend its insurance operations into three largely untapped states in its territory: Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia, according to the new head of its insurance business.

Confidence among affluent investors fell to its lowest mark in September since Spectrem Group's monthly survey was begun in February 2004.

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust, a Coral Gables, Fla., private banking and wealth management company, has announced the promotion of Marie T. LaRussa to senior vice president and director of client service for the Miami-Dade County market.

Putnam Investments' fund family's board of trustees announced Wednesday that it has authorized the funds to participate in the Treasury's money market guaranty program.

ABD Insurance and Financial Services, a Redwood City, Calif., unit of Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc., has announced the hiring of Janine McCaffery as a sales executive in its construction and real estate insurance brokerage practice.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s retirement services division has announced the appointment of Brad Harrison as managing director of its Midwest region.

Assurant Inc., a New York company that sells specialty insurance and insurance-related products and services, announced the hiring Tuesday of Stephen W. Gauster from Prudential Financial Inc. to be a senior vice president and chief corporate counsel.

Sun Life Financial Inc. has announced the hiring of a rival's former chief executive officer to be its president, and it named three others as presidents of wealth management units.

A new microfinance loan program from Schwab Charitable allows investors to double-dip their charitable giving assets.

New data on mergers and acquisitions in the registered investment advisory market indicates that this year may set another record for such deals, despite the difficult financial market conditions, the subprime debacle, and tightened credit, according to a survey by Schwab Institutional.

When Wachovia Corp. completes the sale of its banking operation to Citigroup Inc., it plans to remain a public company with two main subsidiaries — Wachovia Securities, the nation's third-largest brokerage, and its proprietary investment arm, Evergreen Asset Management.

The St. Louis online stock brokerage Scottrade Inc. plans to open branches today in Chino, Calif., and Stow, Ohio.

The new president of Forward Management LLC in San Francisco says he will strive to take advantage of a recent acquisition to begin distributing Forward's mutual funds and separately managed accounts through banks.

UBS AG has hired Jeffrey Mayer, a former Bear Stearns Cos. executive, as joint global head of its fixed-income, currencies, and commodities business.

Investors must become "highly selective" when it comes to how they allocate assets to commodities until the global economy recovers, according to a white paper from Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s Boston Co. Asset Management.

FolioFN Investments Inc., a Vienna, Va., online securities company, announced that it has started offering an cash investment product that provides Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection for up to $2.3 million in individual accounts and up to $5.75 million in retirement accounts by spreading deposits over a network of 23 banks.