Wealth management

The chief executive of BNY Mellon Asset Management said it expects to generate more than half of its revenue from outside of the United States within the next three or four years and, unlike its rivals, it expects to achieve that goal without further acquisitions.

Prudential Financial Inc.'s retirement division has hired Frank Waltman to head its investment products team.

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Moody's Investors Service cut FGIC Corp.'s key bond insurer ratings but indicated it might be more lenient with MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., saying they "are better positioned from a capitalization and business franchise perspective."

Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, the U.S. private-client services division of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Deutsche Bank's private wealth management division, said it has hired three client advisers for its Dallas office and one for Boston.

Ramifications from the Pension Protection Act's effect on investor inertia, changes to Rule 12b-1's regulation of expenses, and a possible mandate by the Securities and Exchange Commission on independent directors are among the chief concerns of the mutual fund industry's top executives.

WisdomTree Investments Inc., a New York exchange-traded fund manager, received approval to sell some of its products in Chile.

BNY ConvergEx Group LLC, a unit of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. that provides global agency brokerage and investment technology, has established a U.K. broker-dealer, BNY ConvergEx Ltd.

H. Beck Inc., the Rockville, Md., broker-dealer arm of Capital Financial Group Inc., plans to launch an open architecture platform through a partnership with FundQuest Inc., a Boston provider of turnkey managed accounts for financial institutions and advisers.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Springfield has elected two new board members.

Wachovia Corp.'s Evergreen Investments plans to prohibit the opening of accounts in the Evergreen Global Opportunities Fund after the close of business April 15.

Fidelity Investments said client assets at its brokerage business rose 17% last year, to $1.99 trillion at yearend.

Incapital LLC's plan to buy the LaSalle broker-dealer services division from Bank of America Corp. would give the Chicago underwriter a two-thirds share of the retail corporate bond business, but more importantly perhaps, it is a chance to sell fixed-income products to individual investors just as they have started looking for these products.

Shares of Washington Mutual Inc., the embattled Seattle thrift company that lost big on bad mortgage bets last year, have rebounded some this year, but Robert Lacoursiere, an analyst at Banc of America Securities, said takeover speculation has given the stock an artificial boost.

Incapital LLC, a Boca Raton, Fla., corporate bond manager, said Monday it plans to acquire Bank of America Corp.'s LaSalle Broker Dealer Services division.

UBS Global Asset Management is hoping a set of mutual funds with a guaranteed lifetime income option will help its new defined contribution business take off.