Wealth management

Assets held by high-net-worth individuals increased 9.4%, to $40.7 trillion, last year, according to the 12th annual World Wealth Report, from Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Capgemini.

Douglas Wilson Cos. of San Diego, a provider of real estate management services to law firms, courts, and financial institutions, among others, hired John A. Waters as chief operating officer.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Springfield promoted two executives in its retirement services unit and hired a vice president of diversity and inclusion.

Placemark Investments Inc., a provider of wealth management products and services, said that it has promoted Richard Dion to president and chief operating officer.

Acquisitions have helped propel Eastern Bank Corp., a $6.9 billion-asset mutual thrift company in Boston, into the ranks of the top sellers of insurance among banks.

Wells Fargo & Co. has opened a private banking office in Oklahoma City.

Wilmington Trust Corp. announced Tuesday in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission that it expects to take a noncash impairment charge of $66.8 million this quarter related to its investment in one of its money management units.

Forward Management LLC, a San Francisco asset management company, announced that it has a deal to buy Berkeley Capital Management LLC's San Francisco retail division.

Vanguard Group Inc. of Valley Forge, Pa., announced that it selected two new portfolio managers to run two of its value funds.

Largely because of volatile market conditions and the credit crisis, the number of hedge funds launched in the first quarter was the lowest for a quarter since 2000, while fund liquidations increased from a year earlier.

Raymond James Ltd., the Canadian arm of Raymond James Financial Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla., hired Paul Allison as co-president and co-chief executive officer, with Peter Bailey.

Northern Trust Global Investments, the asset management arm of Northern Trust Corp. of Chicago, has launched the first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund that tracks the ISEQ 20 Index, a benchmark for investing in Irish companies.

Pyramis Global Advisors of Boston, Fidelity Investments' institutional investment management, has hired Kevin Uebelein as president and chief executive officer.

If Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s chief executive is right, the worst of this credit cycle is yet to come for bankers, and dealing with that will soon involve efforts that go well beyond financial efforts to raise capital.

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

Assets held in variable annuities fell 6%, to $1.4 trillion, during the first quarter from the end of 2007 and rose 0.5% compared with last year's first quarter, according to Nava.

Variable annuity providers are still trying to outdo one another's latest innovations, even though the stampede of bells and whistles has left some advisers and investors scratching their heads.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance brokerage and risk management firm in Itasca, Ill. bought Voluntary Benefits Solutions LLC of Troy, Mich.