Wealth management

Confidence grew among affluent investors and millionaires in December, according to an index published by Spectrem Group, a Chicago research firm.

Vanguard Group's top executive apologizes for not telling a more exciting story.

Brown & Brown Inc. said Wednesday it had bought Turner & Associates Insurance Agency Inc. in Tecumseh, Okla.

PrivateBancorp Inc. announced Wednesday it has applied to the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to charter the Private Wealth Trust Co., a special-purpose savings bank.

MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., the two largest bond insurers, fell in New York Stock Exchange trading Friday after Warren Buffett said he plans to start a rival company to guarantee municipal debt.

ING Group NV, the biggest Dutch financial services company, said on Friday that it agreed to sell its reinsurance unit to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for about $440 million.

ACA Capital Holdings Inc. said Thursday that it has reached agreements with its counterparties that will prevent the ailing bond insurer from having to post collateral as a result of Standard & Poor's Corp.'s cutting a unit's credit rating to junk status.

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Columbia Management Group LLC, Bank of America Corp.'s mutual fund arm, has hired Toby Cromwell as its head of global consultant relations.

Hedge fund launches have declined this year for the third consecutive year, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. of Chicago.

Franklin Templeton Investments has introduced the Franklin Focused Core Equity Fund for U.S. investors.

Jackson National Life Insurance Co., a Denver unit of London's Prudential PLC, has realigned its national accounts group within Jackson National Life Distributors LLC to expand distribution through bank and regional broker-dealers and expand Jackson's reach with existing accounts.

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.