Wealth management

Bank Investment Consultant

Mellon Financial Corp. has opened a private wealth management office in Century City, Calif., to accommodate its growth in Southern California.

AARP Financial and New York Life Insurance Co. introduced a line of insurance products Wednesday for AARP members.

Lehman Brothers said it plans to acquire a 20% stake in Spinnaker Capital Group, an emerging markets hedge fund manager in London.

Pacific Life Insurance Co. plans to introduce a guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit rider today for its variable annuities.

With its acquisition of Carlin Financial Group, Royal Bank of Canada's RBC Capital Markets joined the ranks of Wall Street firms with proprietary desktop trading platforms that give customers cheap, direct access to financial markets.

Scottrade Inc. announced that earnings in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, increased 24% from a year earlier, to $54.5 billion.

First Republic Bank, the company that Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. agreed on Monday to buy, reported fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday that missed the average of analysts' estimates by a penny.

Axa Group Inc. and one of its subsidiaries, Axa Equitable Life Insurance Co., have formed a unit to leverage the best practices of the company's subadvisory businesses.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corp., has a new international exchange-traded fund.

Jackson National Life Insurance Co. of Lansing, Mich., said record sales of variable annuities helped its retail and institutional sales rise 21% last year, to $11 billion.

Integrity Mutual Funds Inc. in Minot, N.D., announced that its founder, Robert E. Walstad, who is also its chief executive and the chairman of its board of directors, is retiring Thursday.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America named Gary C. Bhojwani its chief executive officer.

Ameriprise Financial Inc., an asset management company spun off from American Express in 2005, said fourth-quarter net income increased 54% from a year earlier, to $171 million, or 69 cents a share.

Lower catastrophe costs and growth from property/casualty and retail products businesses helped Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. post strong fourth-quarter earnings growth.

A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., a St. Louis investment manager, launched a unified managed account program.

Northern Trust Global Investments Ltd., the London asset management unit of Northern Trust Corp., announced that Barry Sagraves, its chief executive officer, is leaving the company.