Wealth management

Wilmington Trust Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell, and analysts said that since the company had no exposure to subprime mortgages, the decline is indicative of deeper and more systemic credit problems that many midsize banks can expect to face over the next year.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s top executive said it has raised the necessary capital to steady its balance sheet after a second consecutive quarter of massive losses from mortgage-related writedowns.

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Bank of New York Mellon Corp. announced Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit dropped 68% from a year earlier as the company took charges on collateralized debt obligations and a conduit it sponsors.

BlackRock Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings increased 90% from a year earlier, to $322.4 billion, or $2.43 a share, beating analysts' estimates.

Northern Trust Corp. may be the smallest of the big custodial banks, but analysts say that this does not necessarily mean it must acquire to avoid being elbowed out by larger competitors.

When the wealth management arm of Countybank Trust Services of Greenwood, S.C., gets new business, it's most likely to come through a referral by a satisfied client.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association hired T. Timothy Ryan Jr., a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, as its chief executive officer.

The insurance underwriter AmRisc LP of Houston, a BB&T Corp. unit, announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Savannah Reinsurance Underwriting Management LLC from Glencoe U.S. Holdings Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of RenaissanceRe Holding Ltd.

Axa Equitable Life Insurance Co., a New York unit of Axa SA, launched a distribution channel focused on providing retirement plan strategies and products for Fortune 1,000 corporations and their employees.

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. said it has closed its deal to acquire a majority of CIBC World Markets' U.S. capital markets businesses, including related Israeli investment banking and equities business, from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

State Street Corp.'s top executive says the Boston company is approaching 2008 with the view that a year of working toward a stronger balance sheet will position it to capitalize on acquisition opportunities coming out of what could be an economic recession.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management hired three executives from Citigroup Inc.

American Financial Group Inc., a Cincinnati insurance holding company, has promoted three officers.

For financial advisers looking to broaden their product menus, recent research says, international mutual funds and real estate investment trusts are the most attractive additions.

HSA Bank, a subsidiary of Waterbury, Conn.'s Webster Financial Corp., has appointed Wendy Williams vice president of brokerage sales.

State Street Corp.'s Select Sector SPDRs, a family of exchange-traded funds that divide the S&P 500 into nine sector portfolios, has reported that collective assets under management grew by $8.87 billion, or 51.95%, last year.

Asset management has often cast small banks in the role of Tantalus — the fee income it represents is exactly what they need, but the returns stay stubbornly out of reach.