Wealth management

Confidence among affluent investors and millionaires declined last month, according to research released last week.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s securities servicing arm, has been chosen as the overseas custodian for China International Fund Management Co.'s Asia Pacific Advantage Fund.

American International Group Inc.'s top executive said Wednesday that its exposure to the volatile U.S. residential mortgage market is "manageable" and would not deter growth over the next five years, but another AIG executive said the insurer could be forced to take $600 million of asset writedowns.

Massachusetts securities regulators have charged A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. with "dishonest and unethical conduct" and failure to supervise a broker who "aggressively" pursued retiring employees at Boston Edison Co. and caused them to lose a portion of their retirement assets.

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Individual annuity sales are on pace to set a growth record this year, according to data from Limra International.

Having limited its exposure to the volatile mortgage markets, MetLife Inc. says, it expects to hit analysts' earnings target this quarter, but the difficult market forces it to project 2008 earnings below expectations, executives said at the company's annual investor conference Monday.

Northeast Bank Insurance Group Inc., the insurance arm of Northeast Bancorp of Lewiston, Maine, bought the Berwick insurance agency Spence & Mathews Inc. last week.

Vanguard Group launched the Vanguard Market Neutral Fund on Monday.

The increasingly paperless world of annuity sales is steadily taking shape, with the clearing arm of Fidelity Investments having gradually built the number of insurance carriers participating in its automated program to 20.

State Street Global Advisors, State Street Corp.'s investment management arm, hired Paul Escobar as head of U.S. business development for its insurance asset management unit, Insure-Vest.

Lloyds TSB Offshore Ltd. plans to expand its "borderless banking" strategy by adding offices in the United States and other countries.

UnionBanCal Corp. plans to invest the proceeds from the sale of its retirement record-keeping business in its fee-based asset arm, HighMark Asset Management.

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Money Management Executive

The asset manager Security Global Investors has agreed to hire a growth equity investment team from a unit of Nationwide Financial Services Inc.

John Hancock Financial is trying to help itself do better with 401(k) plan advisers by helping them keep the assets of retirement-minded baby boomers.

Five months after bowing to regulatory pressure to resign as the top executive at Commerce Bancorp Inc. of Cherry Hill, N.J., Vernon W. Hill 2nd has resurfaced with a private investment firm.