Wealth management

With the exception of financial services stocks, money managers have not let the credit concerns or a slowing U.S. economy affect their outlook, according to a quarterly survey of investment managers.

UMB Financial Corp.'s top asset management executive said turmoil in the financial services industry is creating opportunities for his company to acquire wealth management businesses that others want to divest.

Analysts are divided on whether or not Bank of America Corp. should retain its prime brokerage unit.

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CitiStreet, a joint venture of Citigroup Inc. and State Street Corp. that manages for 11 million benefit plan participants, is adding a program called PlanFIRST to its fiduciary services.

Wells Fargo Funds Management LLC, the mutual fund arm of the San Francisco financial services company, announced that its fund family's board of trustees has approved an initiative to simplify its fund lineup by merging or eliminating 15 portfolios.

Northern Trust Corp. announced that it has added two portfolio managers to the tax-advantaged equity portfolio management team at its global investments unit.

UBS AG has opened a private wealth management office in San Francisco for high-net-worth clients with assets of more than $10 million.

The marketplace for model portfolios is booming as more banks add unified managed accounts to their product menus.

GMP Capital Trust, an independent securities and investment banking firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, is starting an asset management business.

Bank Asya of Turkey announced that it has selected Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as the depositary bank for its American depositary receipt program.

Citi Property Investors, a unit of Citigroup Inc.'s Citi Alternative Investments, has hired Markus Hofmann to manage its newly established German office.

Morgan Stanley on Monday named a former top executive of Fidelity Investments to run its global wealth management group.

New York Life Insurance Co.'s New York Life International unit hired Vikram Sawhney as a senior vice president of business development and Susan Cartledge as a senior vice president of human resources.

Phoenix Cos. Inc. of Hartford, Conn., promoted Stephen D. Gresham, from executive vice president and director retail markets to senior vice president and director of product management and marketing for asset management.

Northern Trust Global Investments, the investment management arm of Northern Trust Corp. of Chicago, has partnered with Taiwan's First Taisec Capital Management to offer manager-of-managers funds to retail investors in Taiwan.

The same lack of scale that forced Sun Life Financial Inc. of Toronto’s U.S. division to agree to sell its U.S. defined contribution plan administration business prompted Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. to buy it.

BB&T Insurance Services of Raleigh has agreed to buy Ott & Co., an employee benefits insurance brokerage in Alpharetta, Ga.