Wealth management

Deloitte LLP has put Cary Stier, an 18-year veteran of the New York company, in charge of its U.S. hedge fund and mutual fund practice.

Integrity Mutual Funds Inc.’s interim president and chief executive, Bradley Wells, said that the company needs to stick to fixed-income products if it is to recover from a year of heavy outflows from its mutual funds.

National Financial Services LLC, a Boston clearing unit of Fidelity Investments, increased its assets under custody 9% last year, to $709 billion.

P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LLC, a multistrategy investment adviser, has hired Louis P. Friedman to lead a new strategy focused on private investments and long-term public holdings.

Legg Mason Inc., a Baltimore money manager, has obtained a letter of credit for up to $150 million to support its investment holding in a money market fund.

Affluent investors' confidence increased slightly last month, according to a survey by Spectrem Group.

Community banks' wealth management businesses are holding their own as weakness in housing has thrown major banks into turmoil and the declining stock market has shrunk the values of assets in investment accounts throughout the country.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. announced that it has launched a frontier equity market index that is aimed at capitalizing on investor interest in investing in markets with developing economies but underdeveloped equity markets.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed regulations designed to make it easier for companies to operate and trade exchange-traded funds.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. sees its deal to buy First Mercantile Trust Co. from SunTrust Banks Inc. as the first of many steps in its effort to expand its retirement services business.

Deutsche Bank AG announced that Noreddine Sebti, its global head of equity trading, will move to Hong Kong from New York to take over the company's Asian equities business.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has completed its acquisition of Sun Life Retirement Services Inc. from the U.S. division of Sun Life Financial Inc. of Toronto. The deal was announced in December, along with two other acquisition deals to expand Hartford's retirement plans business.

State Street Corp. of Boston, which is trying to widen its lead in the U.S. public funds market, has hired two executives from Northern Trust Corp., Mark Doherty as vice president of the institutional investor sales team and Michael Pettit as vice president of client management.

The American Bankers Association has endorsed Money Concepts International Inc., a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., wealth management and financial planning firm, for use by the group's members.

McDonnell Investment Management LLC of Oak Brook, Ill., has hired Michael Herzig, a Deutsche Bank AG executive, as a managing director in its newly established New York office.