Wealth management

Comerica Inc. says it plans to expand its insurance subsidiary by focusing on both its existing customers and the bank's expanding footprint.

The American Stock Exchange announced Thursday that it had begun trading of Vanguard Group's Mid-Cap Value and Mid-Cap Growth exchange-traded funds.

Money Management Executive

Jackson National Life Insurance Co. announced an extension Wednesday of its sales agreement with Wachovia Securities to distribute variable and fixed index annuity products in Wachovia bank branches.

Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. said Wednesday that it had introduced Schwab Managed Portfolios, a suite of mutual fund portfolios for people with as little as $50,000 to invest who want to benefit from the investment expertise of Schwab's professional money managers.

U.S. banks face serious challenges in the personal trust business, which they have dominated for years, as their trust assets and accounts decline, according to a research report released Wednesday.

Dozens of new insurance activities, such as 'green' building credits and incentives for investing in renewable energy, are emerging to tackle the threat of climate change and rising weather-related losses, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Ceres investor coalition.

Principal Financial Group said Monday that it had introduced an updated line of term life insurance products, including 15- and 30-year term products, an enhanced conversion provision to age 70, and a super-standard risk class.

Finance professors at the Yale School of Management have devised a way to measure the active management of mutual funds, and it shows that nearly one-third of the U.S. mutual fund industry is what could be called "closet indexers" - funds that claim to be actively managed but passively invest most of their assets in a benchmark index, Yale said on Monday.

Limra International Ltd. and Kenneth Kehrer Associates plan to announce Tuesday that Limra has bought the Kehrer firm's research and consulting practice.

Wachovia Securities LLC announced Monday that Mary T. Mack has been promoted to president of the brokerage firm's investment services group, the business unit through which financial advisers supply investment advice and brokerage services to customers of Wachovia Bank.

Regional and community banks that want to compete with their larger brethren for commercial clients have fueled a near doubling of assets in the cash sweep product sold by Reserve, says the New York asset manager, which built its reputation selling money market funds.

Northern Trust Corp. has hired Stephen Andress to be the global head of derivatives operations, managing and overseeing the strategic development of its back-office derivatives processing technology infrastructure, team, and capabilities, the Chicago banking company announced on Monday.

RBC Asset Management Inc. announced Friday that it would close its RBC Private Canadian Growth and Income Pool to new purchases on Sept. 1.

More than half of the 14,194 active participants in a two-year-old program offered by retirement specialist Invesmart Inc., have opted for a $10 per month service in which the company's adviser arm manages their defined contribution account for them.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Friday that it had begun offering 12-month policy terms on its Dimensions personal auto insurance program, which is available through its network of independent agents.

Bank of New York Co.'s clearing unit, Pershing LLC, and Fidelity Investments' clearing arm, National Financial, are finding a wealth of new business from banks, both large and small, that want to remain in the investment management business but are not interested in maintaining their own back offices.