Wealth management

Minnesota Life Group Insurance, which grew from the 16th-largest U.S. group life insurer to sixth-largest in the seven years after 1997, said Thursday that it has opened offices in Chicago; Glendale, Calif.; and Charleston, W.Va.

Mellon Financial Corp. said Thursday that it had hired Tracy M. McCarthy to be the New York regional president of its private wealth management group.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corp. in Boston, introduced six industry-specific exchange-traded funds on the American Stock Exchange Thursday.

The combined net assets of U.S. variable annuities grew 4.5% during the first quarter, to $1.3 trillion, according to the National Association for Variable Annuities, and were up 14.2% from the year earlier.

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. - Bank of America Corp. is a complex company, and it has streamlined its fund business to appeal to investors confused by too many options but more savvy about costs, says Brian Moynihan, the president of its global wealth and investment management division.

ProShares, a Bethesda, Md., investment management company, announced Wednesday that it had introduced eight exchange-traded funds on the American Stock Exchange.

Generation X is a debt-ridden demographic group whose lack of disposable income makes its members poor prospects for investment product sales, according to a survey released Wednesday by OppenheimerFunds Inc.

A.M. Best Co. said Wednesday that it had affirmed the A-plus financial strength rating of Hartford Life Inc. as well as the A-plus-plus financial strength rating of Pacific Life Insurance Co. (Nebraska) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Pacific Life and Annuity Co.

Symetra Financial and the National Brokerage Consortium have announced a partnership to enhance both companies' ability to serve independent insurance agents and advisers.

Pershing LLC, a member of BNY Securities Group and subsidiary of Bank of New York Co. Inc., said Tuesday that it had added Clipper Fund Inc. to its FundVest no-transaction-fee mutual fund program.

Prudential Financial Inc. in Newark, N.J., announced the promotions Tuesday of the two senior line executives in its international insurance business to co-presidents of the unit and a reorganization of responsibilities between them.

TIAA-CREF, a financial services organization and leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields, said that it had appointed Bret L. Benham to succeed Bertram L. Scott as president and CEO of TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co.

State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corp. in Boston, released its institutional investor confidence index for June on Tuesday, showing a 4.7-point increase from the May level, to 91.

Advisers need to develop an array of wealth management tools in order to gather share from a pool of high-net-worth investors that is not growing as quickly as a year ago, according to the 10th annual World Wealth Report.

Deutsche Bank's asset management division said Monday that it had hired Lynn MacDonald to be its global head of institutional marketing.

Tremont Capital Management Inc., a manager of hedge funds of funds, said Monday that it had hired Barry Tannen to be sales director for U.S. financial institutions.

The U.S. division of Sun Life Financial Inc. has introduced bank-owned life insurance that it says makes separately managed accounts available for the first time in this product to community and small regional banks.

Community Banks Inc., a Harrisburg, Pa., banking company, announced Monday that it had a definitive agreement to buy Sentry Trust Co. from Omega Financial Corp.

Digital Federal Credit Union in Marlborough, Mass., the 15th-largest U.S. credit union, with more than $3 billion of assets, has signed a life insurance distribution agreement with VantisLife Insurance Co., the Windsor, Conn., insurer announced Monday.