Wealth management

Sales of investment management companies worldwide this year have eclipsed previous records even amid turbulent capital markets, according to a study.

Liberty Mutual Group Inc., a Boston insurance company, is consolidating its commercial markets specialty lines unit into a single operation.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has reached outside the company to find a leader for its rapidly growing mutual fund business.

State Street Corp. hired Caroline Carmichael as a senior vice president of its relationship management group.

Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, the U.S. private client services arm of Deutsche Bank AG, hired Cynthia Norville as a managing director and regional executive for the Southern region in its Atlanta office.

Northeast Bank Insurance Group Inc. of Rangeley, Maine, has agreed to acquire Spence & Mathews Inc., a Berwick insurance agency.

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Money Management Executive

Ivy Asset Management Corp., a hedge fund of funds and alternative investment subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., hired Alex Balfour for the newly created position of managing director and head of client development, Asia Ex-Japan.

The executive taking over as president of the benefits administrator CitiStreet said the Citigroup Inc.-State Street Corp. joint venture needs to augment organic expansion with acquisitions if it is to meet its goal of 10%-12% annual growth over the next three to five years.

Legg Mason Inc. chairman and chief executive Raymond "Chip" Mason said the Baltimore investment manager expects to announce its new chief executive officer in the "reasonably near future."

Upromise Inc., a college savings company that SLM Corp. bought in August of last year, said it has restructured Missouri's 529 college savings plan.

The investment manager Principal Financial Group Inc. of Des Moines has two new international funds.

Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc., a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co., announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to buy Rogers & Belding Insurance Agency Inc., a single-office agency in El Paso, and its subsidiaries.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which has said since its formation that it wants to expand internationally, announced Tuesday it is acquiring a Brazilian asset manager, Arx Capital Management.

Fidelity Investments said client assets in its brokerage business grew 24%, to $1.96 trillion, at Sept. 30.

Financial advisers' productivity is better at bank brokerages with cutting-edge technology than at those that are not state-of-the-art, but some technology may actually be counterproductive, a report says.